LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 

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^\^ — %m^M 1^* ■ 



UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



CHIPS 



FKOM THK 



WHITE HOUSE 



OB 



WORDS OF OUR PRESIDENTS 



SELECTIONS FROM THE 



Speeches, Conversations, Diaries, Letters, and Other Writings, 
of all the Presidents of the United States 



COMPILED BY 

JEREMIAH Chaplin 




CHICAGO 

The Interstate Publishing Company 

BOSTON : 30 FRANKLIN STREET 






Copyright, 1886, By 
Th« Intbrstatb Publishing Company. 



TO 



JAMES A. GARFIELD, 

WORTHY SUCCESSOK 

TO THE BEST WHO HAVE PRECEDED HIM IN THE 

HIGHEST OFFICE OF THE REPUBUC, 

i^is 0olunit 
IS RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED. 

Mabcu 4, IS81. 



The Presidents. 

FROM 1789 TO 1885—96 YEARS. 



GEOKGE WASHINGTON, Virginia, 1789-1797 — 8 ycai-s. 

JOHN ADAMS, Massachusetts, 1797-1801 — 4 years. 

THOMAS JEFFERSON, Virginia, 1801-1809 — 8 years, 

JAMES M.IDISON, Virginia, 1809-1817 — 8 j-cars. 

JAMES MONROE, Virginia, 1817-1825 — 8 years, 

JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, Massachusetts, 1825-1829 — 4 years. 

ANDREW JACKSON, Tennessee, 1829-1837 — 8 years. 

MARTIN VAN BUREN. New York, 1837-1841 —4 years. 

WILLIAM HENRY ILVRRISON, Ohio, 1841 — 1 month. 

JOHN TYLER, Virginia, 1841-1845 — 3 years and 11 months. 

JAMES K. POLK, Tennessee, 1845-1849 — 4 j-ears, 

ZACIIARY TAYLOR, Louisiana, 1849-1850 — 1 year, 4 months. 

5 days. 
MILL/UID FILLMORE, New York, 1850-1853 — 2 years, 7 months, 

22 days. 
FRANKLIN PIERCE, New Hampshire, 1853-1857 — 4 years, 
JAMES BUCHANAN, Pennsylvania, 1857-1861-4 j-ears. 
ABRAHAM LINCOLN, Illinois, 1861-18G5 — 4 years, 1 month, and 

11 days, 
ANDREW JOHNSON, Tennessee, 1865-1869 — 3 years, 10 months, 

and 17 days. 
ULYSSES S. GRANT, Illinois, 1869-1877— 8 years. 
IIUTIIEPJ'ORD B. HAYES, Ohio, 1877-1881— 4 years. 
JAMES A. GARFIELD, Ohio, 1881 — 6 months. 
CHESTER A. ARTHUR, New York, 1881-1885 — 3 years 6 mouths. 
GROVER CLEVELAND, New York, 1885- 



PREFACE. 



The present volume is not intended to be so much 
a contribution to political science, as to exhibit aa 
interesting phase in American history, as it appears in 
the opinions, upon a variety of subjects of general 
interest, political and otherwise, of the men who, dur- 
ing the period of nearly a centurj', have successively 
reached the highest position in the Republic. It is an 
occasion for just pride for ourselves, and cheering 
anticipations for mankind, that, be^'ond all precedent 
in ancient and modern times, in the regular succession 
of rulers, the chief magistrates of the United States 
have all been men of fair reputation and abilities, and 
many of them men of superior intellectual capacity 
and singular devotion to the interests of humanity and 
freedom. This fact speaks loudly in favor of popular 
self-government, as opposed to hereditary rule. In 
this important respect, as in other ways, the people 
have never failed to show their capacitj' to manage 
their own affairs. And the history of the past fur- 
nishes a guarantee, that no man of feeble abilitj- or 



8 PREFACE. 

questionable moralitj' can hereafter gain the suffrages 
of the free citizens of America, to represent and exe- 
cute their will in the highest office in their gift. 

In the case of two or three of the Presidents, the 
selections from their writings are necessarily brief and 
unsatisfactory ; but for the rest, more abundant mate- 
rial has enabled us to present their opinions with 
sufficient fulness. 

It is proper to state that for the conversations of 
General Grant, we are indebted to a work of much 
interest and value — " Around the World with General 
Grant in 1877-1879," by John R. Young. J. C. 



C O IS^ T E IS^ T S . 



Chapter. Paoe. 

I. George Washington 11 

II. John Adams 45 

III. Thomas Jefferson 88 

IV. James Madison Ill 

V. James Monroe ...... 127 

VI. JoiiH QuiNcy Adams 133 

VII. Andrew Jackson 176 

VIII. Martin Van Bcren 18G 

IX. William Henry Harrison .... 195 

X. John Tyler 202 

XI. James K. Polk 205 

XII. Zachary Taylor 210 

XIII. Millard Fillmore 212 

XIV. Franklin Pierce 217 

XV. James Buchanan 219 

XVI. Abraham Lincoln 223 

XVII. Andrew Johnson 284 

XVIII. Ulysses S. Grant 292 

XIX. Rutherford B. Hates 347 

XX. James A. Garfield ... . . 388 

XXI. Chester A. Arthur 480 

XXII. Grover Cleveland 490 



" Thf.ke is not, perhaps, one sovereign of the Continent wlio, 
in any sense of the word, can be said to honor our nature, 
while many make us almost ashamed of it. The curtain is 
seldom drawn aside without exhibiting to us beings, worn out 
with vicious indulgence, diseased in mind if not in body, the 
creatures of caprice and insensibility. 

" On the other hand, since the foundation of the American 
Kcpublic, the chair has never been filled by a man for whose 
life, to say the least, any American need to blusli." — London 
Morning Chronicle, after the death of Adams a7id Jefferson. 

"Every four years there springs from the vote created by 
the whole people a President over that great nation. I think 
the world afibrds no finer spectacle than this : I think it afibrds 
no higher dignity — that there is no greater object of ambition 
on the political stage on which men are permitted to move. 
You may point, if you like, to hereditary royalty, — to crowns 
coming down through successive generations in the same fami- 
lies, to thrones based on prescription or on conquest, to sceptres 
wielded over veteran legions or subject reiilms, — but to my 
mind there is nothing more worthy of reverence or obedience, 
nothing more sacred, than the authority of a freely chosen 
magistrate of a great and free people." — John Bright, Speech 
at Rochdale, Eng., Dec. 4, 1860. 

10 



CHIPS FROM THE WHITE HOUSE. 



GEOEGE WASHINGTON. 

BOEN 1732; DIED 1799, AGED 67. — RIAJOR EST 1751. — MEIMBEB 
OF PEOVrSCIAL ASSEMBLY OF VIKGINLl. — COIVEMANDEK- 
IN-CIilEF OF THE COKTINENTAL ARMY, JUNE 15, 1775.— 
RESIGNED HIS COSIBIAND, DECEMBER 23, 1783. — MEMBER 
OF THE CONVENTION "WHICH FRAJMED THE CONSTITU- 
TION, 1787. — PRESIDENT, 1789-1797. 

[To Captain Robert Mackenzie, of Virginia, who had 
written to "Washington from Boston, September 13, 1774, 
complaining of tlie province of Massachusetts as aiming at 
"total independence," and that "the rebellious and numer- 
ous meetings of men in arms, their scandalous and ungen- 
erous attacks upon the best characters in the province, 
obliging thcni to save tliemselves by flight, and tlieir re- 
peated but feeble threats to dispossess the troops, have fur- 
nislied sufucicnt reasons to General Gage to put the town 
in a formidable state of defence, about which we are now 
fully employed, and which will be shortly accomplished, to 
their gi'eat mortilication."] 

Pmr.ADELPHiA, 9 October, 1774. 

Dear Sir : Your letter of the 13th uhimo, from 

Boston, gave me pleasure, as I learnt thereby)' that 

you were well, and might be expected at Mount 

11 



12 CHIPS FR03r TTTE "SMTITE HOUSE. 

Vernon, in your way to and jErom James Eiver, in 
the course of the winter. 

When I have said this, permit me, with the 
freedom of a friend, to express my sorrow that 
fortune should place you in a service that must fix 
curses to the latest posterity upon the contrivers, 
and, if success (which, by the by, is impossilDle) 
accompanies it, execrations upon all those who 
have been instrumental in the execution. 

I do not mean l3y this to insinuate that an officer 
is not to discharge liis duty, even when chance, 
not choice, has placed him in a disagreeable situ- 
ation ; but I conceive, when you condemn the con- 
duct of the Massachusetts people, you reason from 
effects, not causes ; otherwise you would not won- 
der at a people, who are every day receiving fresh 
proofs of a systematic assertion of an arbitrary 
power, deeply planned to overturn the laws and 
constitution of their country, and to violate the 
most essential and valuable rights of manldnd, 
being irritated, and with difficulty restrained from 
acts of the gi'catest violence and intemperance. 
For my own part, I confess to you candidly, that 
I view things in a very different point of hght 
from the one in wliich you seem to consider them ; 
and though you are led to believe by venal men, — 
for I must take the liberty of so calhng those new- 
fangled counsellors who fl}^ to and suiTound you, 
and all others who for honor or pecmiiar}- grati- 



GEORGE WASHINGTON. 13 

fication will lend their aid to overturn the consti- 
tution, and introduce a system of arbitrary gov- 
ernment, — although 3^ou are taught, I say, by 
discoursing with such men, to beheve that the 
people of Massachusetts are rebellious, setting up 
for independency, and what not, give me leave, 
my good friend, to tell you that you are abused, 
grossly abused. This I advance with a degree of 
confidence and boldness which may claim your be- 
lief, having better opportunities of knowing the 
real sentiments of the people you are among, from 
the leaders of them, in opposition to the present 
measures of the administration, than you have 
from those whose business it is not to disclose 
truths, but to misrepresent facts in order to jus- 
tify as much as possible to the world their own 
conduct. Give me leave to add, — and I think I 
can announce it as a fact, — that it is not the wish 
or interest of that government, or any other upon 
this continent, separately or collectively, to set up 
for independence ; but this you may at the same 
time rely on, that none of them will ever submit 
to the loss of those valuable rights and privileges 
wliich are essential to the happiness of every free 
state, and without which, life, liberty, and prop- 
erty are rendered totally insecm-e. 



14 CHIPS FROM THE WHITE HOUSE. 

[From a reiily to a Congratulatory Address by the President 
of the New Yoi-k Congi-ess, 1775.] 

As to the fatal but necessary operations of war, 
when we assumed the soldier we did not lay aside 
tlic citizen ; and we shall most sincerely rejoice 
with you in that happy hour when the establish- 
ment of American liberty on the most firm and 
solid foundations shall enable us to return to our 
private stations, in the bosom of a free, peaceful, 
and happy country. 

[From a letter to his wife, on his appointment to the com- 
mand of the American army, 1775.] 

You may believe me when I assure you, in the 
most solemn manner, that, so far from seeking this 
appointment, I have used every endeavor in my 
power to avoid it, not only from my unwilhngness 
to part with you and the family, but from a con- 
sciousness of its being a trust too great for my 
capacity, and I should enjoy more real happiness 
in one month with you at home than I have the 
most distant prospect of finding abroad, if my stay 
were to be seven times seven years. But as it has 
been a Idnd of destiny that has thrown me upon 
this service, I shall hope that my undertaking it 

is designed to answer some good purpose 

I shall rely confidently on that Providence which 
has heretofore preserved and been bountiful to 
me, not doubting but that I shall return safe to 



GEORGE WASHINGTON. 15 

you in the fall. I shall feel no pain from the toil 
or danger of the campaign ; my mihappiness will 
flow from the uneasiness I know you will feel from 
being left alone. I therefore beg that you will 
summon your whole fortitude, and pass your time 
as agreeably as possible. Nothing will give me 
so much sincere satisfaction as to hear this, and to 
hear it from your own pen. 

[From a letter to his brother John Augustine, on the same 
occasion.] 

I am now to bid adieu to you, and to every 
kind of domestic ease, for awhile. I am embarked 
on a wide ocean, boundless in its prospect, and in 
which, perhaps, no safe harbor is to be found. 
I have been called upon by the unanimous voice 
of the colonies to take the command of the con- 
tinental army ; an honor I neither sought after nor 
desired, as I am thoroughly convinced that it re- 
quires gTeat abilities, and much more experience 
than I am master of. ... I shall hope that my 
friends will visit, and endeavor to keep up the 
spirits of, my wife as much as they can, for my 
departure will, I know, be a cutting stroke upon 
her ; and on this account alone I have many disa- 
greeable sensations. 



16 CHIPS FROM THE WHITE HOUSE. 

[Letter to George William Fairfax, England. The fight at 
Concord, here referred to, occurred April 19, 1775.] 

Philadelphia, 31st May, 1775. 

Dear Sir : Before this letter will come to hand 
you must undoubtedly have received an account 
of the engagement in the Massachusetts Bay be- 
tween the ministerial troops (for we do not, nor 
can we yet prevail upon ourselves to, call them 
the king's troops) and the provincials of that gov- 
ernment. 

General Gage acknowledges that the detach- 
ment under Lieutenant-Colonel Smith was sent 
out to destroy private propert}', or, in other 
words, to destroy a magazine which self-preser- 
vation oblisred the inhal^itants to estal)lish. And 
he also confesses, in effect, at least, that his men 
made a very precipitate retreat from Concord, 
notwithstanding the reinforcement under Lord 
Percy ; the last of which may serve to convince 
Lord Sandwich, and others of the same sentiment, 
that the Americans will lio-ht for their libei-ties and 
property, however pusillanimous in his lordship's 
eye they may appear in other respects. 

From the best accounts T have been able to col- 
lect of that affair, indeed from every one, I believe 
the fact, stripped of all coloring, to be plainly this : 
That if the retreat had not been as precipitate as it 
was, and God knows it could not well ha^e been 
more so, the ministerial troops must have surren- 



GEORGE WASHINGTON. 17 

dered, or been totally cut off. For they hud not 
arrived in Charlestown (under cover of their ships) 
half an hour, before a powerful body of men from 
Marblehead and Salem was at their heels, and 
must, if they had happened to be up one hour 
sooner, inevital)ly have intercepted their retreat to 
Charlestown. Unhappy it is, thou2:h, to reflect, 
that a brother's sword has been sheathed in a 
brother's breast, and that the once happ}- and 
peaceful plains of America are either to be 
drenched with blood or inhabited by slaves. Sad 
alternative ! But can a virtuous man hesitate in 
his choice? 

[From a letter to Joseph Reed.] 

Cambridge, 14 January, 177G. 

Dear Sir : The reflection on my situation, and 
that of this army, produces many an unhap}>y 
hour when all around me are wrapi)cd in sleep. 
Few perisons know the predicament we arc in on a 
thousand accounts ; fc^ver still will believe, if any 
disaster happens to these lines, from what cause it 
flows. 1 have often thought how much happier I 
should have been if, instead of accepting the com- 
mand under such circumstances, I had taken my 
musket' on my shoulder and entered the ranks, or, 
if I could have justitiod tlu; matter to i)ostcrity and 
my own conscience, had retired to the back coun- 
try and lived in a wigwam. K I shall be able 

2 



18 CHIPS FROM THE "WHITE HOUSE. 

to rise superior to these and many other difficul- 
ties which might be enumerated, I shall most re- 
ligiously believe that the finger of Providence is in 
it, to blind the eyes of our enemies ; for surely, if 
we get well tjirough this month, it must be for 
want of their knowing the disadvantages we labor 
under. 

[To Benedict Calvert.] 

Mount Veenon, 3 April, 1773. 

Dear Sir : I am now set down to write you on 
a subject of importance, and of no small embaiTass- 
ment to me. My son-in-law and ward, Mr. Cus- 
tis, has, as I have been informed, paid his addresses 
to your second daughter, and, having made some 
progress in her affections, has solicited her in mar- 
riage. How far a union of this sort may be agi'ee- 
able to you, you best can tell ; but I should think 
myself wanting in candor, were I not to confess 
that Miss Nelly's amial)le qualities are acknowl- 
edged on all hands, and that an alliance with 
your family will be pleasing to his. 

This acknowledgment being made, you must 
permit me to add, sir, that at this, or in any short 
time, his youth, inexperience, and unripened edu- 
cation, are, and will be, insuperable obstacles, in 
my opinion, to the completion of the man-iage. As 
his guardian, I conceive it my indispcnsalile duty 
to endeavor to carry him through a regular course 



GEORGE WASHINGTON. 19 

of education, (many branches of which, I am sorry 
to add, he is totally deficient in,) and to guard his 
youth to a more advanced age before an event, on 
which his own peace and the happiness of another 
are to depend, takes place. Not that I have any 
doubt of the warmth of his affections, nor, I hope, 
I may add, any fears of a change in them ; but at 
present I do not conceive that he is capable of be- 
stowing that attention to the important consequences 
of the married state, which is necessary to l)e 
given by those who are about to enter into it, and 
of course I am unwilling he should do it till he is. 
If the affection which they have avowed for each 
other is fixed upon a solid basis, it will receive no 
diminution in the course of two or three years, in 
which time he may prosecute his studies, and 
thereby render himself more deserving of the lady, 
and useful to society. If, unfortunately, as they 
are both young, there should be an abatement of 
affection on either side, or both, it had better pre- 
cede than follow marriage. 

Delivering my sentiments thus freely will not, I 
hope, lead you into a belief that I am desirous of 
breaking off the match. To postpone it is all I 
ha\'e in view ; for I shall recommend to the young 
gentleman, with the warmth that becomes a man 
of honor, (notwithstanding he did not vouchsafe to 
consult either his mother or me on the occasion,) 
to consider himself as much engaged to your 



20 CHIPS FROM THE WIHTE HOUSE. 

daughter as if the indissoluble knot were tied ; 
and, as the surest means of effecting this, to apply 
himself closely to his studies, (and in this advice I 
flatter myself you will join me,) by which he will, 
in a great measure, avoid those little flirtations 
with other young ladies, that may, by dividing the 
attention, contribute not a little to divide the af- 
fection. 

It may be expected of me, perhaps, to say some- 
thing of property ; but, to descend to particulars, 
at this time, must seem rather premature. In 
general, therefore, I shall inform 3"ou, that Mr. 
Custis's estate consists of about fifteen thousand 
acres of land, a good part of it adjoining the City 
of Wilhamsburg, and none of it forty miles from 
that place ; several lots in the said city ; between 
two and three hundred Negroes ; and about eight 
or ten thousand pounds upon hand, and in the 
hands of his merchants. This estate he now holds 
indciocndent of his mother's dower, which will be 
an addition to it at her death ; and, upon the 
whole, it is such an estate as you will readily ac- 
knowledge ought to entitle him to a hAndsome por- 
tion with a wife. But as I should never require a 
child of my own to make a sacrifice of himself to 
interest, so neither do I think it incumbent on me 
to recommend it as a guardian. 

At all times, when you, ]\Irs. Calvert, or the 
young ladies can make it convenient to favor us 



GEORGE WASHINGTON. 21 

■with a visit, we should be happy in seeing you at 
this place. Mrs. Washington and Miss Custis join 
me in respectful compliments, and 

I am, dear sir, your most obedient servant. 

[Letter to Miss Phillis Wheatley, a colored poet, who pub- 
lished a volume of poems in 1773, when she was nine- 
teen j-eafs of age. She addressed a letter and poem to 
Washington.] 

Cambridge, 28 February, 177G. 

Miss Phillis : Your favor of the 26th of Octo- 
ber did not reach my hands till the middle of De- 
cember. Time enough, you will say, to have given 
an answer ere this. Granted. But a variety of 
important occurrences, continually interposing to 
distract the mind and withdraw the attention, I 
hope will apologize for the delay, and plead my 
excuse for the seeming l)ut not real neglect. I 
thank you most sincerely for your polite notice of 
me, in the elegant hues you enclosed ; and how- 
ever undeserving I may be of such encomium and 
panegyric, the style and manner exhibit a strildug 
proof of your poetical talents ; in honor of which, 
and as a tribute justly due to you, I would have 
pul)lished the poem had I not been apprehensive 
that, while I only meant to give the world this 
new instance of your genius, I might have incun'ed 
the imputation of vanity. This, and nothing else, 
determined me not to give it place in the pubho 
prints. 



22 CHIPS FROM THE ^VHITE HOUSE. 

If 3^ou should ever come to Cambridge, or neur 
head-quarters, I shall be happy to see a person so 
favored by the JNIuses, and to whom nature has 
been so liberal and beneficent in her dispensations. 

I am, with great respect, your obedisnt humble 
servant. 

[From Orderly Book, August 3d, 1776.] 

That the troops may have an opportunity of at- 
tending public worshijD, as well as to take some 
rest after the great fatigue they have gone through, 
the General in future excuses them from fatigue 
duty on Sunday's, except at the ship-yards, or on 
special occasions, until further orders. The Gen- 
eral is sorry to be informed that the foolish and 
wicked practice of profane cursing and swearing, 
a vice heretofore little known in an American 
army, is growing into fashion ; he hopes the offi- 
cers will, by example as well as influence, endeavor 
to check it, and that both they and the men will 
reflect that we can have little hope of the blessing 
of Heaven on our arms, if we insult it by our im- 
piety and folly ; added to this, it is a vice so mean 
and low, without any temptation, that every man 
of sense and character detests and despises it. 

[From a letter, August 20, 1778.] 
The hand of Providence has been so conspicu- 
ous in all this, that he must be worse than an 



GEORGE WASHINGTON. 23 

infidel, that lacks faith, and more than wicked, 
that has not gratitude enough to acknowledge his 
obligations. 

[To Dr. Jolin Cochrane, Surgeon and Physician General.] 
West Point, 16 August, 1779. 

Deak Doctor : I have asked INlrs. Cochrane and 
Mrs. Livingston to dine with me to-morrow ; but 
am I not in honor bound to apprise them of theii 
fare? As I hate deception, even where the imagi- 
nation only is concerned, I will. It is needless to 
premise, that my table is large enough to hold the 
ladies. Of this they had ocular proof yesterday. 
To say how it is usually covered is rather more 
essential ; and this shall be the purport of my 
letter. 

Since our arrival at this happy spot, we have 
had a ham, sometimes a shoulder of bacon, to 
grace the head of the tabic ; a piece of roast beef 
adorns the foot ; and a dish of beans or greens, 
almost imperceptible, decorates the centre. When 
the cook has a mind to cut a figure, which I pre- 
sume will be the case to-morrow, we have two beef- 
steak pies, or dishes of crabs, in addition, one on 
each side of the centre dish, dividing the space 
and reducing the distance between dish and dish to 
about six feet, which without them would be near 
twelve feet apart. Of late he has had the surpris- 
ing sagacity to discover that apples will make pies • 



24 CHIPS FKOil THE ^\TIITE HOUSE. 

and it is a question, if in the violence of his efibrts, 
we do not get one of apples, instead of having 
both of beef-steaks. If the ladies can put up with 
such entertainment, and will submit to partake of 
it on plates once tin but now iron (not become so 
by the labor of scouring), I shall be happy to 
see them ; I am, dear Doctor. 

Yours, etc. 

[From a letter to Lafayette, in 1783, four years before th? 
adoption of the Fudnral Constitution, and six years before 
his inauguration as President.] 

We are now an independent people, and have 
yet to learn political tactics. We are placed among 
the nations of the earth, and have a character to 
establish; but how we shall acquit ourselves time 
must discover. The probability is (at least I fear 
it), that local or state politics will interfere too 
nmch with the more liberal and extensive plan of 
government which wisdom and foresight freed 
from the mist of prejudice, would dictate ; and 
that we shall be guilty of many blunders in tread- 
ing this boundless theatre before we shall have 
arrived at any perfection in this art ; in a word, 
that the experience which is purchased at the prici 
of difficulties and distress, will alone convince us, 
that the honor, power, and true interest of this 
country must ))e measured b^'' a continental seals, 
and that every departure therefrom weakens t'le 



GEORGE WASHINGTON. 25 

Union, and may ultimatcl}' l)re:ik the band wlii.'h 
holds us too-ethcr. To avert these evils, to ibrni 
a new constitution that v\'ill give consistency, sta- 
bility, and dignity to the Union, and suiBcient 
power to the great council of the nation for gen- 
eral purposes, is a duty incumbent on every man 
who vrishes well to his country, and will meet 
with my aid as far as it can be rendered in the pri- 
vate walks of life. 



[From a letter to Robert ^^.lorris.] 

Mount Verxox, 12 April, 1786. 

. I hope it will not be conceived from 



these ol^servations that it is my vcish to hold the 
unhappy people who are the subject of this letter, 
in slavery. I can only say that there is not a man 
living who vvishes more sincerely than I do to see 
a plan adopted for the abolition of it ; but there is 
only one proper and efiectual mode ])y which it can 
be accomplished, and that is by legislative author- 
ity ; and this, as far as my suffrage will go, shall 
never be wanting. But when slaves who are 
happy and contented with their present masters 
are tampered with and seduced to leave them ; 
when masters are taken unawares by these prac- 
tices ; when a conduct of this kind begets discon- 
tent on one side and resentment on the other ; and 
when it hapcna to fidl on a man whose purse 



2G CHIPS FlibM THE WHITE HOUSE. 

will not measure with that of the society, and 
he loses his property for want of means to defend 
it ; it is oppression in such a case, and not human- 
ity in any, because it introduces more evils than it 
can cure. 

[Fi'om a letter to Lafayette.] 

Mount Veknon, 10 May, 1786. 

The benevolence of your heart, my 

dear Marquis, is so conspicuous upon all occasions 
that I never wonder at any fresh proofs of it ; but 
your late purchase of an estate in the colony of 
Cayenne, with a view of emancipating the slaves 
on it, is a generous and noble proof of your hu- 
manity. Would to God a like spirit might dif- 
fuse itself generally into the minds of the people 
of this country. But I despair of seeing it. 
Some petitions were presented to the Assemlj>ly at 
its last session for the abolition of slavery, but 
they could scarcely obtain a reading. To set the 
slaves afloat at once would, I really beheve, be pro- 
ductive of much inconvenience and mischief; but by 
degrees it certainly might, and assuredly ought to, 
be effected, and that, too, by legislative authority. 

[From a letter to John F. ]\Icrcer.] 

September 9, 1786. 

I never mean, unless some peculiar 

circumstances should compel me to it, to possess 



GEORGE "WASHINGTON. 27 

another slave by purchase, it being among m}'' first 
wishes to see some plan adopted by which slavery 
in this country may be a]:)olishcd l)y lav\^. 



[From a letter to Henry Knox, 1787.] 

It is among the evils, and perhaps not the 
smallest of democratical governments, that the 
people must always feel before they Avill see. 
AYhen this happens they are roused to action. 
Hence it is that those kinds of government are 
so slow. 

[From a letter to David Stuart.] 

PniLADiiLPHiA, July 1, 1787. 

Happy, indeed, will it be, if the con- 
vention shall be able to recommend such a firm and 
permanent government for this Union, that all who 
live under it may be secure in their lives, liberty, 
and property ; and thrice happy would it be if 
such a recommendation should ol:>tain. Every- 
body wishes, everybody expects something from 
the convention ; but what will be the final result 
of its deliberation, the book of fate must disclose. 
Persuaded I am that the primary cause of all our 
disorders lies in the different state governments, 
and in the tenacity of that power which pervades 
the whole of their systems. Whilst independent 
sovereignty is so ardently contended for ; whilst 



28 CHIPS FROM THE WHITE HOUSE. 

the local viovrs of each slate, and separate inter- 
ests by which they are too much governed, will 
not yield to an enlarged scale of politics, incom- 
patibility in the laws of different states, and disre- 
spect to those of the general government, must 
render the situation of this great country weak, 
inefficient, and disgraceful. It has already done 
so, almost to the final dissolution of it.* 

[From a letter to the iNIarquis tie Chastcllnx.] 

MocKT Vernox, 25 April, 1788. 

My deab Marquis : In reading your very 
friendly and acceptable letter, which came to 
hand by the last mail, I was, as j'ou may well 
suppose, not less delighted than surprised to 
meet the plain American words, " My vdfe." A 
wife ! "Well, my dear Marquis, I can hardly re- 
frain from smiling to find you are caught at last. 
I saw by the eulogium you often made on the hai> 
piness of domestic life in America that you had 
s^vallov\•ed the ])ait, and that you would as surely 
be taken, one day or another, as that you were a 
philosopher and a soldier. So your day has at 
length come. I am glad of it with all my heart and 
soul. It is quite good enough for you. Kow you 
are well served for cominr? to fi^-ht in favor of the 
American rebels all the way across the Atlantic 

* The present constitution went into full operation in 1789. 



GEORGE WASHINGTON. 21) 

Ocean, by catching that terrible contagion, domes- 
tic felicity, which, like the smallpox, or the 
plague, a man can have only once in his life, 
because it commonly lasts him (at least, with us 
in America — I know not how you manage these 
matters in France) for his whole lifetime. And 
3'et, after all, the worst wish which I can find in 
my heart to make against Jvladame do Clias- 
tellux and yourself is, that you may neither 
of you ever get the better of this same domestic 
felicity during the entire course of 3'our mortal 
existence. 

If so wonderful an event should have occasioned 
me, my dear jNIarquis, to write in a strange style, 
you will understand me as clearly as if I had said, 
what in plain English Is the simple truth, " Do me 
the justice to believe that I take a heartfelt inter- 
est in v.'hatsoever concerns }'Our happiness." And, 
in this view, I sincerely congratulate you on your 
auspicious matrimonial connexion. I am happy 
to find that Madame de Chastellux is so intimately 
connected with the Duchess of Orleans ; as I have 
always understood that this noble lady was an 
illustrious example of connubial love, as well as 
an excellent pattern of virtue in general. . . . 

P. S. May 1st. Since writing the above I 
have been favored with a duphcate of your letter 
in the handwriting of a lady, and cannot close this 
without acknowledging my ol^ligations for the 



30 CHIPS FROM TIIE WHITE HOUSE. 

flattering postscript of the fair transcriber. In 
effect, my dear INIarquis, the characters of this in- 
terpreter of your sentiments are so much fairer 
than those through which I have been accustomed 
to decipher them, that I already consider myself 
as no small gainer by j'our matrimonial connexion ; 
especially as I hope your amiable amanuensis will 
not foro^et sometimes to add a few annotations of 
her own to your original text. 

[From a letter to Lafayette.] 

Mount VEnxoij, 28 April, 1788. 

On the general merits of this proposed 

Constitution [adopted in the course of this year] , 
I wrote to you some time ago my sentiments pretty 
freely. . . . There are other points in which opin- 
ions would be more likely to vary ; as, for in- 
stance, on the ineligibility of the same person for 
President after he should have served a certain 
course of years. Guarded so effectually as the 
proposed Constitution is, in respect to the preven- 
tion of l)ribery and undue influence in the choice 
of President, I confess I differ widely from Mv. 
Jefferson and you as to the expediency or neces- 
sity of rotation in that appointment. The matter 
was fully discussed in the Convention, and to my 
full eonviction, though I cannot have time or room 
to sum up the arguments in this letter. There 
cannot, in my judgment, be the least danger that 



GEORGE WASHINGTON. 31 

the President will by any practicable intrigue ever 
be able to continue himself one moment in office, 
much less to perpetuate himself in it, but in the 
last stage of corrupted morals and political de- 
pravity ; and even then there is as much danger 
that any other species of domination would pre- 
vail. Though when a people shall have become 
incapable of governing themselves, and fit for a 
master, it is of little consequence from what quar- 
ter he comes. Under an extended view of this 
part of the subject, I can see no propriety in pre- 
cluding ourselves from the services of any man, 
who, on some great emergency, shall be deemed 
universally most capable of serving the public. 

In answer to the observations you make on the 
probability of my own election to the presidency,* 
knowing me as you do, I need only say, that it 
has no enticing charms and no fascinating allure- 
ments for me. However, it mio:ht not be decent 
for me to say I would refuse to accept, or even 
to speak much about, an appointment which may 
never take place ; for, in so doing, one might pos- 
sibly incur the application of the moral resulting 
from that fable in which the fox is represented as 
inveighing against the sourness of the grapes, be- 
cause he could not reach them. All that it will be 
necessary to add, my dear Marquis, in order to 
dhow my decided predilection, is, that at my time 

* Wasliin":ton became President in 1789. 



32 CHIPS FliOlI THE WHITE HOUSE. 

of liib,* and under my circumfitances, the increas- 
m<X inlirmilic.3 of nature and the G.TOwin'x love of 
retirement do not permit me to entertain a wish 
beyond that of living and dying an honest man on 
my own farm. Let those follow the pursuits of 
ambition and fame who have a keener relish for 
them, or Vvho may have more years in store for 
the enjoyment. 

[From a letter to Lafayette, 1788.] 

It is a wonder to me that there should be found 
a sinQ:lo monarch who docs not realize that his own 
glory and felicity must depend on the prosperity 
and happiness of his people. How easy is it for 
a sovereign to do that which shall not only im- 
mortalize his name, but attract the blessings of 
millions. 

[From the same.] 

You see I am not less enthusiastic than I ever 
have been, if a belief that peculiar scenes of 
felicity arc reserved for this country is to l)e de- 
nominated enthusiasm. Indeed, I do not believe 
that Providence has done so much for nothing. It 
has always been my creed, that we should not be 
left as a monument to prove "that mankind, under 
the most favorable circumstances for civil liberty 
and happiness, are unequal to the task of govern- 
ina: themselves, and therefore made for a master." 
** * He Avas now fifty-six. 



GEORGE WASHINGTON. 33 

[From a letter to John Lathrop, 1788.] 

How pitiful, in the eye of reason and religion, 
is that ialsc ambition vv^hich desolates the world 
widi lire and sword for the purposes of conquest 
and fame, when compared to the milder virtues 
of making our neighliors and our fellow-men as 
happy as their frail conditions and perishable na- 
tures will permit them to be ! 

[To Charles Pettit, IG August, 1788.] 

The great Searcher of hearts is my wit- 
ness that I have no wish v\'hich asph'cs beyond the 
humble and happy lot of living and dying a private 
citizen on my own farm. 

[To Count de Moustier, 15 December, 1788.] 

In whatever country useful inventions 

are found out, and improvements made, I rejoice 
in contemplating that those inventions or improve- 
ments may, in some way or other, be turned to the 
common good of mankind. 

[To Rev. John L:ithrop, 22 June, 1788.] 

In truth, it appears to mc, that, should the pro- 
posed government be generally and harmoniously 
adopted, it will be a new phenomenon in the politi- 
cal and moral world, and an astonishing victory 
gained by enlightened reason over brutal force. 

8 



84 CHIPS FROM THE WHITE HOUSE. 

[To Benjamin Lincoln, 29 June, 1788.] 

No one can rejoice more than I do at 

every step the people of this great country take to 
preserve the Union, to establish good order and 
government, and to render the nation happy at 
home and respectable abroad. Xo nation upon 
earth ever had it more in its power to attain 
these blessings than United America. Wondrously 
strange, then, and much to be regretted indeed 
would it be, were we to neglect the means, and 
to depart from the road, which Providence has 
pointed out to us so plainly. I cannot believe it 
will ever come to pass. The gi'cat Governor of 
the universe has led us too long and too far on 
the road to happiness and glory, to forsake us in 
the midst of it. By folly and improper conduct, 
proceeding from a variety of causes, we may now 
and then get bewildered ; but I hope and trust 
that there is good sense and virtue enough left to 
recover the right path before we shall be entirely 
lost. 

[To LaHxyette, 29 July, 1789. 

If I know my own heart, nothing short 

of a conviction of duty will induce me again to 
take an active part in public affairs ; and in that 
case, if I can form a plan for my own conduct, my 
endeavors shall be unremittingly exerted, even at 
the hazard of former fame or present popularity. 



GEORGE WASHINGTON. 35 

to extricate my country from the embarrassments 
in which it is entangled through want of credit ; 
and to estabh'sh a general system of policy, which, 
if pursued, will ensure permanent felicity to the 
commonwealth. I think I see a path as clear and 
as direct as a ray of light, which leads to the at- 
tainment of that object. Nothing but harmony, 
honesty, industy, and frugality are necessary to 
make us a great and happy people. 

[To Benjamin Harrison.] 

9 March, 1789. 

Men's minds are as variant as their faces, 

and, where the motives of their actions are pure, 
the operation of the former is no more to be im- 
puted to them as a crime, than the appearance of 
the latter ; for both, being the work of nature, are 
alike unavoidable. Liberality and charity, instead 
of clamor and misrepresentation, ought to govern 
in all disputes about matters of importance. 

[To Henry Knox.] 

Mount Vernon, 1 April, 1789. 

I feel for those members of the new 

Congress who hitherto have given an unavailing 
attendance at the theatre of action.* For myself, 
the delay may be compared to a reprieve ; for, in 

* XcAV York was now, Icmporaril}-, the capital. Wash- 
ington was inaugurated April 30. 



36 CHIPS FROM THE WHITE HOUSE. 

confidence I tell 3'ou, (with the world it would 
obtain little credit,) that my movements to the 
chair of government will be accompanied by fecl- 
insfs not unlike those of a culprit who \5 "oins; to 
his place of execution ; so unwilling am I, in the 
evening of a life nearly consumed in public cares,* 
to (juit a p.eaceful abode for an ocean of ditGculties, 
without that competency of political skill, abilities 
and inclination, which are necessary to manage the 
helm. I am sensible that I am embarking the voice 
of the people, and a good name of my own, on this 
vo}-age ; but what returns will be made for them, 
Heaven alone can foretell. Integrity and firmness 
are all that I can promise. These, be the voyage 
}on<x or short, shall never forsake me, although I 
may be deserted by all men : for of the consola- 
tions which are to be derived from these, under 
any circumstances, the world cannot deprive me. 

[From his Inaugural Address.] 

April 30, 1789. 

Fellow-Citizens of the Senate and of the 

House of Rephesentatives : — 

Among the vicissitudes incident to life, no event 
could have filled me with greater anxieties than 
that of which the notilication was transmitted by 
your order, and received on the fourteenth day 
of the present month. On the one hand I was 

* He was now fifty-seven years old. 



GEORGE WASHINGTON. 37 

summoned by my country, whoso voice I can never 
hear but with veneration and love, from a retreat 
which I had chosen with the fondest predilection, 
and, in my flattering hopes, Avith an immutable de- 
cision, as the asylum of my declining years ; a 
retreat which was rendered every day more neces- 
sary, as vrell as more dear to me, by the addition 
of habit to inclination, and by frequent interruptions 
of my health, from the gradual waste committed 
on it by time. On the other hand, the magnitude 
and difficulty of the trust to which the voice of my 
country cabled me, being sufficient to awaken in the 
wisest and most experienced of her citizens a dis- 
trustful scrutiny into his qualifications, could not 
but overvrhelm with despondence one vv^ho, inherit- 
ing inferior endowments from nature, and unprac- 
tised in the duties of civil administration, ought to 
be peculiarly conscious of his own deficiencies. 
In this conflict of emotions, all I dare a^er is, that 
it has been my faithful study to collect my duty 
from a just appreciation of every circumstance I^y 
which it might be aficcted. All I dare to hope is, 
that if, in executing this task, I have been too much 
swayed by a grateful remembrance of former in- 
stances, or by an aCectionate sensibility to this 
transcendent proof of the confidence of my fellow- 
citizens, and have thence too little consulted my 
incapacity as well as disinclination for the v/eighty 
and untried cares before me, my error will be pal- 



38 CHIPS FROM THE ^\^^ITE HOUSE. 

liatecl by the motive which misled me, and its con- 
sequcnt;cs be judged by my country with some 
share of the partiality in which they originated. 

[To his nepliow George S. Washington.] 

MoLNT Vernon, 23 M:irch, 1789. 

Dear George : — As it is pr()l)ablc that I shall 
soon be under the necessity of quitting this place, 
and entering once more into the bustle of public 
life, in conformity to the voice of my country, and 
the earnest entreaty of my friend?, however con- 
trary it is to my own desires or inclinations, I 
think it a duty incumbent on me, as your uncle 
and friend, to give you some advisory hints, which, 
if properly attended to, will, I conceive, be found 
very useful to you in regulating your conduct, and 
giving you respectability, not only at present, but 
through every period of life. 

You have now arrived at that age Avhen you must 
quit the trifling amusements of a boy, and assume 
the more dignified manners of a man. At this cri- 
sis your conduct will attract the notice of those 
who arc about you ; and, as the first impressions 
are generally the most lasting, your doings now 
may mark the leading traits of your character 
through life. It is, therefore, absolutely necessary, 
if you mean to make any figure upon the stage [of 
action] , that joa should take the first steps right. 
What those steps are, and what general line is to 



GEORGE WASHINGTON. 39 

be pursued to lay the foundation of an honorable 
and happy progress, it is the part of age and ex- 
perience to point out. This I shall do as far as is 
in my power, with the utmost cheerfulness, and I 
trust that your own good sense will show you the 
necessity of following it. 

The first and great object with you at present is, 
to acquire, by industry and application, such 
knowledge as your situation enables you to obtain, 
and as will be useful to you in life. In doing this, 
two other important advantages will be gained, 
besides the acquisition of knowledge, namely, a 
habit of industry, and a disrelish for that profusion 
of money and dissipation of time which are ever 
attendant upon idleness. I do not mean by a close 
application to your studies, that you should never 
enter into those amusements which are suited to 
your age and station ; they can be made to go hand 
in hand with each other, and, used in their proper 
seasons, will ever be found to be a mutual assist- 
ance to one another. But what amusements, and 
w^here they are to be taken, is the great matter to 
be attended to. Your own judgment, with the 
advice of your real friends, who may have an op- 
portunity of a personal intercourse with you, can 
point out the particular manner in which you may 
best spend your moments of relaxation, better than 
I can at a distance. One thing, however, I would 
strongly impress upon you, namely, that when you 



40 CHIP? FR03I Tni: ^^nm: house. 

hnre leisure to go into companv, it should clTmrs 
be cf tlie lx^st kind ihiit tlic place you ere in v. ill 
aiTcrd ; by this means von Trill be constantl" im- 
proving tout manners, and cultivating^ Tour mind, 
"while you are relaxing from yom- booko ; and good 
company will ever be fomid much less expensive 

than bad 

I cannot c~ iii -: o strongly upon yon a due ob- 
servance of e. .- zny and frugality, as you Trell 
know yourself the present state of your propeit^' 
and finances will not admit of any unneces^ry ex- 
pense. The article of clothing is now one of the 
chief expenses that you will incur, and in this I 
fear you are not so economical as you should bo. 
Dec-ency and cleanliness will always lx> the &rst 
objects in the dress of a judicious and sensible 
man. A conformity to the prevailing fiishion in a 
certain degree is necessary ; but it does not from 
thence follow, that a man should always get a new 
coat or other clothes upon every triiling change in 
the mode, when perhaps he has two or three very 
good ones b\' him. A person who is anxious to 
be a leader of the fashion, or one of the first to 
follow it, will certainly appear in the eyes of judic- 
ious men, to have nothing better than a frequent 
change of dress to recommend him to notice. I 
would always v.ish you to appear sufficiently 
decent to entitle you to admission into any com- 
pany where you may be ; but your own knowledge 



must cominco you, tb^t j'ou should bo as littlG 
expensive in this respoct r.s you properly can. 
You should alvrays keep some clothes to "wear to 
church or on particular occasions, which should 
not be TTom every da}' ; tliis can be done Trithcut 
any additional expense, for vchenever it h neces- 
sary to get new clothes, thoso which have been 
kept for particular occasions will then come in s.3 
cvery-day ones, unless they should be of superior 

quahty to the new 

]\inch more might be said to you as a young 
man, upon the necessity of paying a due attention 
to the moral virtues ; but this maj, perhaps, mcr3 
properly be the subject of a futm'o letter when you 
may be about to enter into the world. If you 
comply with the advice herein given, . . . you 
v\-ill find but few opportunities and httle inclina- 
tion, while you continue at an academy, to entei 
into those scenes of vice or dissipation which too 
often present themselves to youth in any place, 
and particularly in towns. K you are determined 
to neglect your books, and plunge into extrava- 
gance and dissipation, nothing I could now say 
would prevent it ; for you must l^e employed, and 
if it is not in pui^uit of those things which aro 
profitable, it must be in pm^suit of those things 
which aiG destructive. 



42 CHIPS FEOM THE 'WHITE HOUSE. 



[Letter to General Ai'mstrong.] 

March U, 1792. 

I am sure there never was a people who had 
more reason to acknowledge a divine interposition 
in their affairs, than those of the United States ; * 
and I should be pained to believe that they have 
forgotten that agency which was so often manifested 
during our revolution, or that they failed to con- 
sider the omnipotence of that God who is alone 
able to protect them. 

[To tlic Members of the New Church in Baltimore.] 

January, 1703. 

\\^Q have abundant reason to rejoice that, in this 
land, the light of truth and reason has triumphed 
over the power of bigotry and superstition, and 
that every person may here worship God according 
to the dictates of his OAvn heart. In this enlight- 
ened age, and in this land of equal liberty, it is 
our boast, that a man's religious tenets Avill not 
forfeit the protection of the laws, nor deprive him 
of the rioht of attainins^ and holdino: the hisfhest 
ciHces that arc known in the United States. 

[From a. Speech to both Houses of Congress.] 

December 8, 1795. 

While we indulge the satisfaction Avhich 

the actual condition of our western borders so well 

* Referring to the suceessful progi*ess of the war. 



GEORG2 WASHINGTON. 43 

authorizes, it is necessary that wo should not lose 
sight of an important truth, which, continually re- 
ceives new coniirmation ; namcl\% that the provis- 
ions heretofore made with a vievv^ to the protection 
of the Indians from the violence of the lavvless 
pa»t of our frontier inhabitants are insuiBL-icnt. It 
is demonstrated that these violences can nov/ bo 
perpetrated vsith impunity ; and it can need do ar- 
gument to pro^■e that, unless the murdering of In- 
dians can be restrained by bringing the murderers 
to condign punishment, all the exertions of the 
government to prevent destructive rctahations by 
the Indians v.ill prove fruitless. The frequent 
destruction of innocent vromon and children, v^ho 
are chiclly the victims of retaliation, must continue 
to shock humanity, and an enormous expense to 
drain the treasury of the Union. 

To enforce upon the Indians the ol)scrvancc of 
justice it is indispensable that there should Ijo 
competent means of rendering justice to them. 
... I add, vcith pleasure, that the probability even 
of their civilization is not diminished by the ex- 
periments Vvhich have been thus far made under 
the auspices of government. The accomplishment 
of this work, if practicable, will reflect undecaying 
lustre on our national character, and administer 
the most grateful consolation that virtuous minds 
can know. 



44 CHIPS FROM THE AVHITE HOUSE, 



[From {lie Farewell Atldress to the people of the Unitctl 
States, September 17, 179G.] 

Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to 
politic.'al prosperity, religion and morality are indis- 
pensable supports. In vain would that man claim 
the tribute of patriotism vvho should labor to sub- 
vert these great pillars of human happiness, these 
firmest props of the duties of men and citizens. 
The mere politician, equally with the pious man, 
ought to respect and to cherish them. A volume 
could not tra,cc all their connections vvilh private 
and public felicity. . . . And let us, w^th cau- 
tion, indulge the supposition that morality' can be 
maintained v.'ithout religion. Whatever may bo 
conceded to the influence of refined education on 
minds of peculiar structure, reason and experience 
both forbid us to expect that national morality can 
prevail in exclusion of religious principle. 



JOHN ADAMS. 45 



JOHN ADAMS. 

BORN, ITSo; DIED, 182G, AGED 01. — GRADUATED AT HARVAJID 
COLLEGE, 1755. — TAUGHT A GUAMMAK SCHOOL, 1755. —BEGAN 
PRACTICE OF LAW, 1758.— REPRESENTATIVE IN THE GEN- 
ERAL COURT OF MASSACHUSETTS, 1770. — DELEGATE TO THE 
CONGRESS OF 1771. — TO THE CONTINENTAL CONGRESS, 1775.— 
PRESIDENT OF DOARD OF WAR AND ORDINANCE, 17TG. — COM- 
MISSIONER TO FRANCE, 1777. —MEMBER OF CONVENTION TO 
FRAME A CONSTITUTION FOR MASSACHUSETTS, 1778.— MIN- 
ISTER TO GREAT BRITAIN, 1773 — INHNISTER TO HOLLAND, 
1780. — MINISTER TO GREAT BRITAIN, 1785. — MEMBER OF THE 
CONTINENTAL CONGRESS, 17S8. — VICE-PRESIDENT, 1780.— 
RE-ELECTED, 1792. — PRESIDENT, 1707-1801. 

[From a. letter to Mrs. Adams, at Braintree.] 

Boston, 12 May, 1774. 

We live, mv dear soul, in an a^Q of 

trial. What will be the consequence, 1 know not. 
The town of Boston, for aught I can see, must 
suffer martyrdom. It must expire. And our 
principal consolation is, that it dies in a noble 
cause — the cause of truth, of virtue, of liberty, 
and of humanity, and thus it will probably have a 
glorious resurrection to greater wealth, splendor, 
and power than ever. 

Let me know what is best for me to do. It is 
expensive keeping a family here, and there is no 
prospect of any lousiness in my way in this town 
this Avholo summer. I don't receive a shilling a 
week. AVe must contrive as many waj's as we 
can to save expenses : for we may have calls to 
contribute very largely, in proportion to our cir- 



46 CHIPS FROM THE WHITE HOUSE. 

cumstanccs, to prevent other very honest, worthy 
people from suffering for want, besides our own 
loss in point of business and profit. 

Don't imagine from all this that I am in the 
dumps. Far otherwise. I can truly say that I 
have felt more spirits and activity since the arrival 
of this news than I had done before for years. I 
look upon this as the last effort of Lord North's 
despair, and he will as surely be defeated in it as 
he was in the project of the tea. 

[From a letter to James Waterhouse.] 
It has been, in all times, the artifice of desi:)ot- 
ism and superstition to nip liberty, truth, virtue, 
and religion in the bud, by cutting off the heads 
of all who dared to show regard to either. But 
when a process so summary could not be effected, 
the next trick was to blast the character of every 
rising genius who excited their jealousy, by propa- 
gating lies and slanders to destroy his influence. 
[From a letter to J. H. Tiftany.j 
I would define liberty to be a power to do as we 
would be done by. 

I advise every young man to keep school. I 
acquired more knowledge of human nature while 
I kept school than while I was at the bar, than 
while I was in the world of politics or at the Courts 
of Europe. It is the best method of acquiring 
patience, self-command, and a knowledge of char- 
ter. John Adams. 



JOHN ADAMS. 47 



[Letter to Mrs. Adams, at Braintree. Reference is had to 
serious interruptions in his legal business, in Boston, from 
his political principles.] 

York [Maine], 1 July, 177'1. 

I urn so idle that I have not an easy moment 
without my pen is in my hand. My time [at 
home] might have been improved to some purpose 
in mowing grass, raking hay, or hoeing corn, 
weeding carrots, picking or shelling pease. Much 
better should I have been employed in schooling 
my children, in teaching them to write, cipher, 
Latin, Fi'euch, English, and Greek. 

I sometimes think I must come to this — to be 
the foreman upon my own farm, and the school- 
master to my own children. I confess myself to 
be full of fears that the ministry and their friends 
and instruments will prevail, and crush the cause 
and friends of liberty. The minds of that party 
arc so filled with prejudices sgainst me that they 
will take all advantaofes, and do mo all the damairo 
they can. These thoughts have their turns in my 
mind, l)ut in general my hopes are predominant. 

Dr. Gardiner arrived here to-day from Boston, 
brings us news of a battle at the town meeting, 
between Whigs and Tories, in which the Whias, 
after a day and a half's obstinate engagement, were 
finally victorious by two to one. He says the 
Tories are prepai'ing a flaming protest. 



48 CHIPS feo:m the white house. 

I am determined to be cool, if I can. I have 
suffered such torments in my mind heretofore as 
have ahnost overpowered my constitution, without 
any advantage. And now I will laugh and be easy 
if I can, let the contest of parties terminate as it 
vv'ill ; nay, whether I stand high or low m the esti- 
mation of the world, so long as I keep a conscienco 
void of olFence towards God and man. And this 
I am determined, by the will of God, to do, let 
v\'hat will become of me or mine, my country or 
the world. 

I shall arouse m^^self ere long, I beheve, and 
exert an industry, a frugality, a hard labor, that 
will serve my family, if I can't serve my country. 
I V'ill not lie down in despair. If I cannot servo 
my children by the law, 1 will serve them by agri- 
culture, by trade, by some way or other. I thank 
God I have a head, and heart, and hands, which 
if once fully exerted altogether, will succeed in the 
world as well as those of the mean-spirited, low- 
minded, fawning, obsequious scoundrels vvdio have 
long hoped that my integrity would be an obstacle 
in my way, and enable them to outstrip me in the 
race. But what I want in comparison of them of 
villany and servility, I will make up in industry 
and capacity. If I don't, they shall laugh and 
triumph. 1 will not willingly see blockheads, 
whom I have a right to despise, elevated above 
me and insolently triumphing over me. Nor shall 



JOHN ADAMS. 4i^ 

knavery, through any negligence of mine, get the 
bcttci* of honesty, nor ignorance of knowledge, nor 
folly of vriodom, nor vice of virtue. 

I must entreat you, my dear partner in all the 
joys and sorrows, prosperity and adversity of my 
life, to take a part with me in the sti^uggle. I 
pra}^ God for your health — entreat you to rouse 
your whole attention to the family, the stock, the 
farm, the dairy. Let every article of expense 
which can possibly be spared be retrenched ; keep 
the hands attentive to their business, and the most 
prudent measures of every kind be adopted and 
pursued with alacrity and spirit. 

[To Mrs. Adams, at Braintrce, written while on his way to 
Philadelphia, as a delegate to Congress.] 

Princeton, New Jeksf.y, 28 August, 1774. 

I received j'our kind letter at New York, and it 
is not easy for 3'ou to imagine the pleasure it has 
given me. I have not found a single opportunity 
to vvrite you since I left Boston, excepting by the 
post, and I don't choose to WTite by that convej^- 
ance for fear of foul play. But as wc are now 
within forty-two miles of Philadelphia, I hope 
there to find some private hand by which I can 
con\'C3' this. 

The particulars of our journey I must reserve, 
to be communicated after my return. It would 
take a volume to describe the whole. It has been, 



50 CHIPS FROM THE MailTE HOUSE. 

upon the wIioIg, an agreeable jaunt. We have 
had opportunities to see the world, and to form 
acquaintance with the most eminent and famous 
men in the several colonies wc have passed 
through. We have been treated with unbounded 
civility, complaisance, and respect. We yester- 
day visited Nassau Hall College, and were politely 
treated by the scholars, tutors, professors, and 
president, whom we are this day to hear preach. 
To-morrow we reach the theatre of action. God 
Almighty grant wisdom and virtue sufficient for 
the high trust that is devolved upon us. The 
spirit of the people, wherever we have been, 
seems to be very favorable. They universally 
consider our cause as their own, and express the 
firmest resolution to abide by the determination 
of the Cono-ress. 

I am anxious for our perplexed, distressed 
province ; hope they Avill be directed into the right 
path. Let me entreat you, my dear, to make 
yourself as easy and quiet as possible. Resigna- 
tion to the will of heaven is our only resource in 
such dangerous times. Prudence and caution 
should be our guides. I have the strongest hopes 
that we shall yet see a clearer sky and better 
times. 

Remember my tender love to little Abby ; tell 
her she must write me a letter, and inclose it in 
the next you send. I am charmed with your 



JOHN ADAMS. 51 

amusement with our little Johnny.* Tell him I 
am glad to hear he is so good a boy as to read to 
his mamma for her entertainment, and to keep him- 
self out of the company of rude children. Tell 
him I ho[)e to hear a good account of his accidence 
and nomenclature when I return. . . . Your ac- 
count of the rain refreshed me. I hope our hus- 
bandry is prudently and industriously managed. 
Frugality must be our support. Our expenses in 
this journey vv411 be very great. Our only [roc- 
ompcnso Avill] be the consolatory reflection that 
we toil, spend our time, and [encounter] dangers 
for the public good, — happy, indeed, if we do 
any good. 

The education of our children is never out of 
my mind. Train them to virtue. Habituate them 
to industry, activity, and spirit. ]\Iake them con- 
sider every vice as shameful and unmanly. Fire 
them with ambition to be useful. jNIakc them dis- 
dain to be destitute of any useful or ornamental 
knowledge or accomplishment. Fix their ambition 
upon great and solid objects, and their contempt 
upon little, frivolous, and useless ones. It is 
time, my dear, for you to begin to teach them 
French. Every decency, grace, and honesty 
should be inculcated upon them. ... I am, with 
the tenderest affection and concern, 

Your wandering JoriN Adams. 

* John Quincy Adams. 



52 CHIPS FROM THE -WHITE HOUSE. 

[Lottcr to Mrs. Adams, nt Braintroe.] 

riiiLADKLPiiiA, IG Scpteniljcr, 1774. 

Having a leisure moment vcbilc the Congi'ess is 
assem1)ling, I gladly embrace it to write you a line. 

When the Congress first met, Mr. Gushing 
made a motion that it should be opened with 
i:)rayer. It was opjoosed l)y ]\lr. Jay of New 
York, and Mr. Eutledge of South Carolina, be- 
cause wc were so divided in religious sentiments, — 
some Episcopalians, some Quakers, some Analjap- 
tists, some Presbyterians, and some Congegalion- 
alists, — that vre could not join in the same act of 
worship. Mr. Samuel Adams arose and said he 
was no bigot, and could hear a prayer from a gen- 
tleman of piety and virtue, who was at the same 
time a friend to his country. He was a stranger in 
Philadelphia, but had heard that i\Ir. Ducho (Bu- 
shay, they pronounce it) deserved that character, 
and therefore he moved that Mr. Duchc, an Epis- 
copal clergyman, might be desired to rend praters 
to the ConoTGSs to-morrow mornins:. The motion 
was seconded, and passed in the affirmative. Mr. 
Randolph, our president, waited on Mr. Duch6, and 
received for answer that if his health vrould per- 
mit he cert;:inly would. Accordinglv, next morn- 
ing, he appeared with his clerk, and in his pontifi- 
cals, and read several prayers in the established 
form : and then read the Collect for the seventh 
day of September, which was the thirty-fifth 



JOHN ADAMS. 53 

psalm. You must remember that this was the 
next moraing after we heard the horrible rumor 
of the cannonade of Boston. I never saw a 
greater effect upon an audience. It seemed as if 
heaven had ordained that psahn to bo read on that 
morning. 

After this, Mr. Duchd, unexpected to every- 
body, struck out into an extemporary prayer, 
which filled the bosom of every man present. I 
must confess I never heard a better prayer, or one 
so well pronounced. Episcopalian as ho is, Dr. 
Cooper* himself never prayed with such fervor, 
such ardor, such earnestness and pathos, and in 
language so eloquent and sublime, — for America, 
for the Congress, for the Province of Massachu- 
setts Bay, and especially the town of Boston. It 
has had an excellent effect upon everybody here. 
I must beg you to read that psalm. If there was 
any faith in the Sortes Biblicae, it would be 
thought providential. 

It vvill amuse your friends to read this letter 
and the thirty-fifth psalm to them. Read it to 
your father and j\Ir. Wiliird. I wonder vdiat our 
Braintree churchmen vvill think of this ! Mr. 
Duch'j is one of the most ingenious men, and best 
characters, and greatest orators in the Episcopal 



* Pastor of the BnitLle Square church, Boston, ami a 
zealous patx'iot. 



54 CHIPS FROM THE WHITE HOUSE. 

order, upon the continent, j'et a zealous friend of 
liberty and bis country. * 

I long to see my dear family. God bless, pre- 
serve, and prosper it. Adieu. 

[Fi'om ti letter to Mrs. Adams.] 

7 October, 1775. 

The situation of thinsrs is so alarminsr, 



that it is our duty to prepare our minds and hearts 
for every event, even the worst. From my earliest 
entrance into life, I have been engaged in the 
public cause of America, and from first to last, I 
have had upon my mind a strong impression that 
things would bo wrought up to their present crisis. 
I saw, from the begim^ing, that the controversy 
was of such a nature that it never would be 
settled, and every clay convinces me more and 
more. This has been the source of all the disqui- 
etude of my life. It has lain down and ri^en up 
wiih me these twelve years. The thought that we 
might be driven to the sad necessity of breaking 
our connection with Great Britain, exclusive of 
the carnage and destruction which, it vv'as easy to 
see, must attend the separation, always gave me 
a oreat deal of orief. And even now, I would 
cheerfully retire from public life forever, renounce 

* Three years later, Mr. Ailams wrote: "Mr. Dnchc, I 
am sorry to inform you, has turned out an ajoostatc and 
traitor. I pity his weakness, and detest his wickedness." 



JOHN ADAMS. 55 

all chance for profits or honors from the public, 
nay, I would cheerfully contribute my little prop- 
erty to obtain peace and liberty. But all these 
must go, and my life too, before I can surrender 
the right of my country to a free constitution. I 
dare not consent to it. I should be the most mis- 
erable of mortals ever after, whatever honors or 
emoluments mio^ht surround me. 

[Letter to George Wythe.] 

January, 1776. 

You and I, my dear friend, have been sent into 
life at a time when the greatest lawgivers of an- 
tiquity would have wished to live. How few of 
the human race have ever enjoyed an opportunity 
of makins: an election of fjovernment more than of 
air, soil, or climate, for themselves or their chil- 
dren? When, before the present epocha, had three 
millions of people full power and a fair opportu- 
nity to form and establish the wisest and happiest 
government that human wisdom can contrive ? 



Genius, in a general, is oftener an instrument 
of divine venoreance than a guardian ano-el. 

[To Mrs. Adams.] 

Philadelphia, 23 April, 1776. 

This is St. George's Day. . . . The natives of 
Old England in this city heretofore formed a so- 
ciety, which they called St. George's Club. Upon 



56 CHIPS FE03I THE WHITE HOCSE. 

the 23d of April, annually, they had a gi*eat feast. 
But the Tories and polities have made a Gchiam in 
the society, so that one part of them are to meet 
and dine at the City Tavern, and the other at the 
Bunch of Grapes. Israel Jacobs and a third party 
go out of town. One set are stanch Americans, 
another stanch Britons, and a third half-way men, 
neutral beings, moderate men, prudent folks ; for 
such is the division among men upon all occasions 
and every question. This is the account which I 
have from my bariier, who is one of the society, 
and zealous on the side of America. 

This curious character of a barber I have a ijreat 
inclination to draw for your amusement. He is a 
little, dapper fellow, short and small, but active 
and lively. A tongue as voluble and fluent as j'ou 
please, wit at will, and a memory or an invention 
which never leaves him at a loss for a story to tell 
you for your entertainment. He has seen great com- 
pany. He has dressed hair and shaved faces at 
Bath, and at court. He is acquainted with several 
of the nobility and gentry, paiiicularl}' Sir William 
Meredith. He man-ied a girl, the daughter of a 
Quaker in this place, of whom he tells many droll 
stories. He is a sergeant in one of the companies 
of some battalion or other here. He frequents, of 
evenings, a beer-house kept by one "Weaver, in the 
city, where he has many curious disputes and ad- 
ventures, and meets many odd characters. 



JOHN ADA31S. 57 

I believe you will think me very idle to write 
you so trifling a letter, upon so uninteresting a 
subject, at a time Avlien my country is fighting 
pro avis et focLs. But I assure you I am glad 
to chat with this barber while he is shaving 
and combing me, and to divert myself from less 
agreeable thoughts. He is so sprightly and good 
humored that he contributes more than I could 
have imagined to my comfort in this life. Burne 
has prepared a string of toasts for the club to 
drink to-day at Israel's : " The Thirteen United 
Colonies," " The Free and Independent States 
of America," " The Congress for the time being," 
"The American Army and Navy," "The Governor 
and Council of South Carolina," etc., etc., etc. 
"A happy election for the Whigs on the 1st 
of May," etc. 

PiiiLADEi.piiiA, 23 April, 1777. 

My barber has just left the chamber. The 
following curious dialogue was the amusement 
during the gay moments of shaving : 

"Well, Burne, what is the lie of the day?" 

" Sir, Mr. told me that a privateer from 

Baltimore has taken two valuable prizes with six- 
teen guns each. I can scarcely believe it." 

" Have you heard of the success of the Battle 
snake, of Philadelphia, and the Starchj Begrjar, 
of Maryland, Mr. Burne? These two privateers 
have taken eleven prizes, and sent them into the 



58 CHIPS FROM THE WHITE HOUSE. 

"West India I.slands ; nine transports and two 
Guinea-men." 

" Confound the ill-luck, sir ; I was going to sea 
myself on board the RaUlesnake, and my wife fell 
u yelping. These wives are queer things. I told 
her I wondered she had no more ambition. 'Now,' 
says I, 'when you walk the streets, and anybody 
asks who that is, the answer is " Biirne the hat'' 
ber^s ^cife." Should you not be better pleased to. 
hear it said, " That is Captain Burnes lady, the 
captain of marines on board the Battlesnake 9 " ' 
' Oh,' says she, ' I would rather be called Burne 
the barber's Avife than Captain Burne's widow. I 
don't desire to live better than you maintain me, 
my dear.' So it is. Sir, by this sweet, honey lan- 
guage, I am choused out of my prizes, and must 
go on with my soap and razors and pincers and 
combs. I wish she had my ambition." 

If this letter be interc.'epted by the Tories, they 
will get a booty. Let them enjoy it. If some of 
their wives had been as tender and discreet as the 
barber's, their husl)and's ambition would not have 
led them into so many salt-ponds. What an ignis 
fatuus this ambition is ! How few of either sex 
have arrived at Mrs. Burne's pitch of moderation, 
and are able to say, " I don't desire to live better, 
and had rather be the barber's wife than the cap- 
tain's widow ! " Quite smart, I think, as well as 
philosophical. 



JOHN ADAMS. 59 



[From a letter to Mrs. Adams.] 

Baltimoru, 15 Feb., 1777. 

We have, (in Congress,) from New 

Hampshire, a Colonel Thornton, a physician by 
profession, a man of humor. He has a large bud- 
get of droll stories, with which he entertains com- 
pany perpetually. I heard, about twenty, or tive- 
and-twenty, years ago, a story of a physician in 
Londonderry, who accidentally met with one of our 
New England enthusiasts, called exhorters. The 
fanatic soon began to examine the doctor concern- 
ing the articles of his faith, and what he thought 
of original sin. "Why," says the doctor, "I sat- 
isfy mvself about it in this manner. Either orio-- 
inal sin is divisible or indivisible. If it is divisible, 
every descendant of Adam and Eve must have a 
part, and the share which falls to each individual 
at this day is so small a particle that I think it is 
not worth considering. If indivisible, then the 
whole quantity must have descended in a right 
line, and must now be possessed by one person 
only; and the chances are millions and millions 
and millions to one that that person is now in 
Asia or Africa, and that I have nothing to do 
with it." I told Thornton the story, and that I 
suspected him to be the man. He said he was. 
He belongs to Londonderry. 



60 CHIPS FROM THE WHITE HOUSE. 

[To Mrs. Ad:ims.] 

Piiii,ADEi.riiiA, 20 August, 1777. 

This day completes three yeiirs since I stepped 
into the coach at Mr. Cushing's door, in Boston, 
to go to Phikidelphia in quest of adventures ; and 
adventures I have found. I feel an inclination 
sometimes to write the history of these last three 
years, in imitation of Thucydides. There is a 
striking resemblance in several particulars between 
the Pcloponnesian and the American war. The 
real motive to the former Avas a jealousy of the 
growing power of Athens by sea and land. The 
genuine motive to the latter was a similar jealousy 
of the growing power of America. The true 
causes which incite to war are seldom professed 
or acknowledged. 

We are now upon a full sea ; when we shall ar- 
rive at a safe harbor, no mariner has skill and ex- 
perience enough to foretell. But by the favor of 
Heaven we shall make a prosperous voyage, after 
all the storms and shoals are passed. 

[To Patrick Heniy.] 

Philadelphia, S June, 177C. 

The dons, the bashaws, the grandees, 

the patricians, the sachems, the nabobs, call them 
by what name you please, sigh, and groan, and 
fret, and sometimes stamp, and foam, and curse, 
but all in vain. The decree is gone forth, and it 



JOHN ADAMS. 61 

cannot ho recalled, that a more equal liberty than 
liao prevailed in other parts of the eai'th, must be 
established in xViuerica. That exuberance of pride 
vrhich has produced an insolent domination in a 
fevv% a. veiy fev^^, opulent, monopolizing families, 
will be brought down nearer to the confines of 
reason and moderation than they have been used 
to. This is all the evil which they themselves vrill 
endure. It will do them good in this world, and 
in every other. For pride was not made for man, 
only as a tormentor. 

3 July, 177G. 

But the day is past. The second day* 

of July, 1776, will be the most memorable epocha 
in the history of America. I am apt to believe 
that it will be celebrated by succeeding genera- 
tions as a great anniversary festival. It ought 
to be commemorated, as the day of deliverance, 
by solemn acts of devotion to Almighty God. It 
ought to be solemnized with pomp and p^irade, 
with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonlires, 
and illuminations, from one end of this continent 
to another, from this time forward, for evermore. 

You will think me transported with enthusiasm, 
but I am not. I am well aware of the toil, and 
blood, and treasure, that it vrill cost us to maintain 

* TIk" Dc'cl;ir;ition of Inclcppndcnce -vvas p,2rcod to on the 
scconil day of July, but not formally approved and signed 
till tlio fourth. 



62 CHIPS FROM THE WHITE HOUSE. 

this declaration, and support and defend thc.o 
states. Yet, through all the gloom, I can sec tlie 
rays of ravishing light and glory. I can sec that 
the end is worth more than all the means, and that 
posterity will triumph in that da3''s transactions, 
even although vv^c should rue it, which I trust in 
God V\"e shall not. 

[1 o Mrs. Adams.] 

Passy, 3 June, 1778. 

On the loth of Fel3ruary I left you. * It is now 
the od of June, and I have not received a line nor 
heard a word, directly or indirectly, concerning 
you, since my clepai-ture. This is a situation of 
mind in which I never was before, and I assure 
3'ou I feci a great deal of anxiety at it ; yet I do 
not wonder at it, because I suppose few vessels 
have sailed from Boston since ours. ... It 
M'Ould be useless to attempt a description of this 
country. It is one great garden. Nature and avt 
have conspired to render everything here delight- 
ful. . . . There is so much danger that my let- 
ter may fall into malicious hands, that I should 
not choose to be too free in my observations upon 
the customs and manners of this people. But thvs 
much I may say with truth and without ollcnce, 

* lie had been appointed Commissioner at the Court of 
Versailles, to act in conjunction with Dr. Franklin ami 
Arthur Lee. 



JOHN ADAMS. CS 

that there is no people in the Avorlcl v\-ho take so 
much pains to please, nor any vv^hose endeavors in 
this way have more success. Their acts and man- 
ners, taste and language, are more respected in 
Europe than those of any other nation. Luxury, 
dissipation, and effeminacy are pretty nearly of the 
same degree of excess here and in every other part 
of Europe. The great cardinal vii-tuo of temper- 
ance, however, I believe flourishes hero more than 
in any other part of Europe. 

My dear countrymen ! how shall I persuade yon 
to avoid the plague of Europe? Luxury has as 
many and as bewitching charms on your side of the 
ocean as on this ; and luxury, wherever she goes, 
effaces from human nature the image of the Divinity. 
If I had power I w' ould forever banish and exclude 
from America all gold, silver, precious stones, 
alabaster, marble, silk, velvet, and lace. 

Oh, the tyrant ! the American ladies would say. 
What ! A}', my dear girls, these passions of 
yours, which are so easily alarmed, and others of 
my own sex which are exactly like them, have 
done and vrill do the work of tyrants in all ages. 
Tyrants different from me, whose power has ban- 
ished, not gold indeed, but other things of greater 
value, W'isdom, virtue, and lilieity. 

My son * and servant are well. I am, with an 
ardor that words have not power to express, yours. 
• John Quincy. 



64 CHIPS FROM THE WHITE HOUSE. 



Paris, February, 1780. 

I have the honor to be lodging hero vrith no less 
a personage than the Prince of Hcssc-Cassel, ^v]lo 
is here upon a visit. We occupy different apart- 
ments in the same house, and have no intercourse 
vrith each other ; but some wags are of opinion 
that if I were authorized to open a negotiation 
vrith him, I might obtain from him as many troops 
to fight on our side of the question as he has 
already hired to the Englii;h against us I 

[To Mrs. Adams.] 

Don't disturb yourself about any malicious at- 
tempts to injure me in the estimation of my coun- 
trymen; Let them take their course, and go the 
length of their tether. They vvill never hurt your 
husband, whose character is fortified with a shield 
of innocence and honor ten thousand fold stronger 
than brass or iron. The contemptible essays, 
made by you know whom, will ou\y tend to their 
own confusion. My letters have shown them their 
own ignorance, a sight they could not bear. Say 
as little about it as I do. I laugh, and will laugh 
before all posterity at their impotent rage and 
envy. 



JOHN ADAMS. 65 

[To Mrs. Adams, Jane 9, 1782, and reffti-ring to French in- 
trigues, diflficulties in America, and opposition in Eng- 
land to a treaty of peace with Great Britain.] 

I am weary, worn, and disgusted to death. I 
had rather chop -wood, dig ditches, and make fence 
upon my poor little farm. Alas, poor farm ! and 
poorer family ! what have you lost that your coun- 
try might be free ! and that others might cat(3h fire 
and hunt deer and bears at their ease ! 

There will be as few of the tears of gratitude, 
or the smiles of admiration, or of the sighs of pity 
for us, as for the army. But all this should not 
hinder me from ooino' over the same scenes aa'ain, 
upon the same occasion — scenes which I would 
not encounter for all the wealth, pomp, and power 
of the world. Bo^'s ! if you ever say one word, 
or utter one complaint, I will disinherit 3'ou. 
Work ! you rogues, and be free. You will never 
have so hard work to do as papa has had. Daugh- 
ter ! get 3^ou an honest man for a husband, and 
keep him honest. No matter whether he is rich, 
provided he be independent. Regard the honor 
and the moral character of the man more than all 
circumstances. Think of no other greatness but 
that of the soul, no other riches but those of the 
heart. 



66 CHIPS FROM THE WHITE HOUSE. 

[To Secretaiy Livingston, Paris, 23 June, 1783.] 

Wise statesmen, like able artists of every kind, 
study nature, and their works are perfect in pro- 
portion as they conform to her laws. 

[To Count Sarsfield, 1785. Dated Grosvenor Square.] 

I believe this many-headed beast, the people, 
will some time or other, have wit enough to throw 
their riders ; and, if they should, they will put an 
end to an abundance of tricks with which they are 
now curbed and bitted, whipped and spurred. 

[To Thomas Jefferson, 1813.] 

God has infinite wisdom, goodness, and power ; 
he created the universe ; his duration is eternal, a 
parte ante and a parte post. His presence is as 
extensive as space. What is space ? An infinite 
spherical vacuum. He created this speck of dirt 
and the human species for his glory ; and with the 
deliberate desjoii of makins: nine-tenths of our 
species miserable forever for his glory. This is 
the doctrine of Christian theologians in general, 
ten to one. Now, my friend, can pro})hecies or 
miracles convince you or me that infinite benevo- 
lence, wisdom, and power created, and preserves 
for a time, innumcral)le millions, to make them 
miserable forever for his own glory ? AV retch ! 
What is his glory? Is he ambitious? Does he 



JOHN ADAMS. 67 

"want promotion? Is he vain, tickled with adula- 
tion, exulting and triumphing in his power and 
the sweetness of his vengeance ? 

Pardon me, my Maker, for these awful questions. 
My answer to them is always ready. I believe no 
such things. My adoration of the author of the 
universe is too profound and too sincere. The 
love of God and his creation — delight, joy, tri- 
umph, exultation in my own existence — though 
but an atom, a molecule oryanique of the universe, 
are my religion. 

[To Thomas Jeflferson, 1813.] 

I have examined all [religions] as well as my 
narrow sphere, my straitened means, and my busy 
life would allow me ; and the result is that the 
Bible is the best book in the world. It contains 
more of my little philosophy than all the libraries 
I have seen ; and such parts as I cannot reconcile 
to my little philosophy I postpone for future in- 
vestigation. 

[To Thomas Jefferson, 181?. ] 

It appears to me that the great principle of the 
Hebrews was the fear of God ; that of the Gen- 
tiles, honor the gods ; that of Christians, the love 
of God. 



68 CHIPS FROM THE WHITE HOUSE, 

[To Thomas Jefferson, 1813.] 

The human understanding is a revelation from 
its Maker, which can never be disputed or 
doubted. 

[To Dr. J. Morse.] 

Qlincy, 22 December, 1815. 

In the course of these ten years [from 

17G5 to 1775], they [the British ministry] formed 
and organized and drilled and disciplined a party 
in favor of Great Britain, and they seduced and 
deluded nearly one third of the people of the 
colonics. . . . Let me contine myself to 
IVIassachusetts. . . . Daniel Leonard was the 
only child of Colonel Ephraim Leonard, of Norton. 
He was a scholar, a lawyer, and an orator, accord- 
ing to the standard of those days. As a member 
of the House of Representatives, even down to 
the year 1770, he made the most ardent speeches 
which Merc delivered in that House against Great 
Britain, and in favor of the colonies. His popu- 
larity became alarming. The two sagacious spirits, 
Hutchinson and Sewall, soon penetrated his char- 
acter, of which, indeed, he had exhibited very vis- 
il)le proofs. He had married a daughter of i\Ir. 
Hammock, who had left her a portion, as it was 
thought, in that day. He Avore a broad gold lace 
round the rim of his hat, he had made his cloak 
glitter with laces still broader, he had set up his 



JOHN ADAMS. 69 

chariot and pair, and constantly travelled in it 
from Taunton to Boston. This made the world 
stare ; it v\-as a novelty-. Xot another lawyer in 
the province, attorney or barrister, of whatever 
age, reputation, rank or station, presumed to ride 
in a coach or a chariot. The discerning ones tioon 
perceived that wealth and power must have charms 
to a heart that delighted in so much finery, and 
indulged in such unusual expense. Such marks 
could not escape the vigilant eyes of the two arch- 
tempters, Hutchinson and ScAvall, who had more 
art, insinuation, and address than all the rest of 
their party. Poor Daniel was beset with great 
zeal for his conversion. Hutchinson sent for him, 
courted him with the ardor of a lover, reasoned 
with him, llattercd him, overawed him, frightened 
him, invited him to come frequently to his house. 
As I was intimate with ]Mr. Leonard during the 
whole of this process, I had the sul)stance of this 
information from his own mouth, was a witness 
to the progress of the impression made upon him, 
and to many of the labors and struggles of his 
mind, between his interest or his vanity, and his 
duty. 

[Letter to William Tudor.] 

QriscY. 24: January, 1S17. 

Bernard, Hutchinson, Oliver, the commissioners 
of the customs, and their satellites, had an espio- 
nage as inquisitive, as zealous, and as faithful as 



70 CHIPS FROM THE WHITE HOUSE. 

that ill France, before, during, or since the revo- 
lution, by which the Tories were better informed 
of the anecdote which I nm about to relate to you, 
than the AVhigs were in general 

The public had been long alarmed with rumors 
and predictions that the king, that is, the ministry, 
would take into their own hands the payment of 
the salaries of the judges of the Supreme Court. 
The people would not believe it ; the most thinking 
men dreaded it. They said, '' With an exccuiivo 
authority in a governor possessed of an absolute 
negative on all the acts of the legislature, and the 
judges dependent only on the crown for sal:-:ries, 
as Avell as their commissions, what protection have 
we? We may as well abolish all limitations, and 
resign our lives and liberties at onco to the will 
of a prime-minister at St. James's." You remem- 
ber the controversy that General Brattle excited 
concerning the tenor of the judges' commissions, 
and the universal anxiety that then prevailed on 
the subject. The despatches at length arri\cd, 
and expectation was raised to its highest pitch 
of exultation and triumph on one side, and of 
grief, terror, degradation, and despondency on 
the other. The legislature assembled, and the 
governor communicated to the two houses his 
Majesty's commands. 

It happened that I was invited to dine that day 
with Samuel W^inthrop, an excellent character, 



JOHN ADAMS. 71 

and ci predecessor in the respectable office you 
no^Y hold in the Supreme Court. Arrived at his 
houGe in Isexv Boston, I found it full of counsel- 
lors, and representatives, and clergy. Such a 
group of melancholy countenances I had rarely, 
if ever, seen. No conversation, except some in- 
sipid observations on the weather, till the great 
topic of the day was introduced, and at the same 
time a summons to the feast. All harps upon the 
willow, we sat down to a triste dinner, which all 
the delicacies before us could not enliven. A few 
glasses of good wine, however, in time brought 
up some spirit, and the conversation assumed a 
little vigor, but it was the energy of grief, com- 
plaint, and despair. All expressed their detesta- 
tion and horror of the insidious ministerial plot, 
but all ao-recd that it was irremediable. There 
was no means or mode of opjiosing or resisting it. 
Indignation and despair, too, boiled in my breast 
as ardently as in any of them, though, as the 
company were so much superior to me in age and 
station, I had not said anything ; but Dr. Win- 
throp, the professor, then of the council, observing 
my silence, and perhaps my countenance, said : 
"Mr. Adams, wdiat is your opinion? Can you 
think of any way of escaping this snare ! ' My 
answer was : " No, sir ; I am as much at a loss as 
any of the company. I agree with all the gentle- 
men, that petitions and remousti'ances to king or 



72 CHIPS FROM THE A^TilTE HOUSE. 

parliament will be incifectual. Nothing but force 
^viil succeed ; ]:)ut I ^vould try one project bcibro 
I had recourse to the last reason and (itncss of 
things." The company cried out, almost or quite 
together, "What project is that? What -would 
you do?" A. "I would impeach the judges." 
"Impeach the judges? How? Where? AVho 
can impeach them?" A. "The House of Ecprc- 
sentatives." "The House of Rei^resentatives? Bo- 
fore whom ? Before the House of Lords in En;?- 
land?" A, "iSo; surely. You might as well 
impeach them before Lord Xorth alone." "Where, 
then?" A. "Before the governor and council." 
"Is there any precedent for that?" A. "If there 
is not, it is now high time (hat a precedent should 
beset." "The governor and council will not re- 
ceive the impeachment." ^1. "I know that very 
well, but the record of it will stand upon the jour- 
nals, be published in pamphlets and newspapers, 
and perhaps make the judges repent of their sal- 
aries, and decline them ; perhaps make it too 
troublesome to hold them." "What right had we 
to impeach anybody?" A. "Om- House of Rep- 
resentatives have the same right to impeach as the 
House of Commons has in Enaland, and our <2:ov- 
ernor and council have the same right and duty to 
receive and hear impeachments as the king and 
House of Lords have in parliament. If the gov- 
ernor and council would not do their duty, that 



JOHN ADAMS. 73 

•xrould not be the fault of the people ; their rcpre- 
scntalivcG ouo-ht nevertheless to do theirs." Some 
of the company said the idea was so new to them 
that they vvished I would show them some reason 
for my opinion that we had the right. I repeated 
to them the clause of the charter which I relied 
on, the constant practice in England, and the ne- 
cessity of such a power and practice in every free 
government. 

The company dispersed, and I went home. Dr. 
Cooper and others were excellent hands to spread 
a rumor, and before nine o'clock half the town, 
and most of the members of the general court, 
had in their heads the idea of an impeachment. 
The next morning, early, jMajor Ilawley, of North- 
ampton, came to my house under great concern, 
and said he heard that I had yesterday, in a pub- 
lic compan}^ suggested a thought of impeaching 
the judges ; that report had got about, and had 
excited some uneasiness, and he desired to know 
my meaning. I invited him into my office, opened 
the charter, and requested him to read the para- 
graphs that I had marked. I then produced to 
him that volume of Selden's works v»-hich contains 
his treatise on Judicature and Parliament ; other 
authorities in law were produced to him, and the 
State Trials, and a profusion of impeachments, 
vvith Vvhich that work abounds. Major Hawley, 
who was one of the best men in the province, and 



74 CHIPS FROM THE WHITE HOUSE. 

one of the ablest lawyers and best speakers in the 
legislature, was struck with surprise. He said, 
" I know not what to think. This is in a manner 
all new to me. I must think of it." You, I\ir. 
Tudor, will not wonder at Major Hawley's embar- 
rassment, if you recollect that my copy of Sel- 
den's works of the State Trials, and the Statutes 
at Large, were the only ones in Boston at that 

time 

My strange brother, Eobert Treat Paine, came 
to me with grief and terror in his face and man- 
ners. Ho said he had heard that I talked of an 
impeachment of the judges ; that it had excited a 
great deal of conversation, and that it seemed to 
prevail, and that, according to all appearances, it 
would be brought forward in the House ; he was 
very mieasy aljout it, etc. I knew the man. In- 
stead of entering into particular conversation with 
him, I took him into my oiEce, and showed him 
all that I had before show^n to Major Hawley. Ho 
had not patience to read much, and Avent away 
with the same anxious brow. This man had an 
upright heart, an abundance of wit, and, upon the 
whole, a deeper policy than I had. He soon 
found, however, that the impeachment was pop- 
ular, and would prevail, and prudently acquiesced. 
JNIajor Hawley, always conscientious, always de- 
lil)erate, alwaj's cautious, had not slept soundly. 
"What were his di-eams about impeachment, I know 



JOHN ADAMS. 75 

not. But this I know ; he drove away to Cam- 
bridge, to consult Judge Trowbridge, and ap- 
pealed to his conscience. The charter was called 
for ; Selden and the State Trials were quoted. 
Trowbridgre said to him what I had said before, 
that '* the power of impeachment was essential to a 
free government ; that the charter had given it to 
our House of Representatives as clearly as the 
Constitution, in the common law or immemorial 
usa2:e, had oiven it to the House of Commons in 
England." This was all he could say, though ho 
lamented the occasion of it. 

]Major Hawley returned full in the foith. An 
impeachment was voted, a committee appointed 
to prepare articles. But Major Hawley insisted 
upon it in private with the committee that they 
should consult me, and take my advice upon every 
article before they reported it to the House. Such 
was the state of parties at that monjent, that tho 
patriots could carry nothing in the House without 
the support of Major Hawley. The committee 
very politely requested me to meet them. To 
avoid all questions about time and place, I invited 
them to my house in the evening. They came, 
and produced a draft of articles, which were 
examined, considered, and discussed, article by 
article, and paragraph by pjiragraph. I objected to 
some, and proposed alterations in others. Some- 
times succeeded, and often failed. . . . The result. 



76 CHIPS FKOM THE WHITE HOUSE. 

upon the whole, was not satisfactory to mc in all 
i:)oints, l)iit I "was not responsible. 

Kext day I met Ben Gridlcy, who accosted mc 
in his pompous style, "Brother Adams, you keep 
late hours ! Last niijht I saw a host of senators 
vomit forth from your door after midnight." 
Now, brother Tudor, judge you whether this 
whole transaction was not as well known at head- 
quarters, and better too, than in the House of 
Eepresentatives. This confidence of jMnjor Haw- 
ley in me became an object of jealousy to the 
patriots. Not only jMr. Paine, but ]\Ir. [Samuel] 
Adams and Mr. Hancock, could not refrain from 
expressing, at times, their feeling of it. But they 
could do nothing without Major Hawley. These 
little passions of which even the apostles could 
not wholly divest themselves, have, in all ages, 
been small causes of great events ; too small, in- 
deed, to be described by historians, or even known 
to them, or supected by them. 

These articles were reported to the House, dis- 
cussed, accepted ; the impeachment voted, and 
sent up in form to the governor and council ; re- 
jected, of course, as everybody knew beforehand 
that it would be : but it remained on the journals 
of the House, was printed in the newspapers, and 
went abroad into the world. And what were the 
consequences? Chief Justice Oliver and his Su- 
perior Court, your Supreme Judicial Court, com- 
menced theu' regular circuit. 



JOHN ADAMS. 77 

Tbo Chief Justice opened his court as usual. 
Grand jurors and petit jurorG refused to take their 
oaths. They never, as I believe, could prevail on 
one juror to take the oath. I attended at the bar 
in two counties, and I heard grand jurors and 
petit jurors say to Chief Justice Oliver, to his face, 
" The chief justice of this court stands impeached 
by the representatives of the people of high crimes 
and misdemeanors, and of a conspiracy against the 
charter privileges of the people. I therefore can- 
not serve as juror, or take the oath." The cool, 
calm, sedate intrepidity vvith whicli these honest 
freeholders went through tliis fiery trial filled my 
eyes and rny heart. 

In one vrord, the royal government vv^as from 
that moment laid prostrate in the dust, and has 
never since revived in substance, though a dark 
shadovv' of the hobo-oblin haunts me at times to 
this day. 

[From a letter to William Tudov, 1817.] 

The bloody rencounter between the citi- 
zens and the soldiers on the 5th of jNIarch, 1770, 
produced a tremendous sensation throughout the 
tovrn and country. The people assembled first at 
Fancuil Hall, land adjourned to the Okl South 
Church, to the number, as was conjectured, often 
or twelve thousand men, among whom were the 
most virtuous, substantial, independent, disinter- 



78 CHIPS FROM THE ■^^^^ITE house. 

ested, and intelligent citizens. They formed them- 
selves into a regular deliberative body, chose their 
moderator and secretary, entered into discussions, 
deliberations, and debates, adopted rcsolulionr,, 
appointed committees. ... A remonstrance to 
the governor was ordained, and a demand that tho 
regular troops should be removed from the tovv^n. 
A committee was appointed to present this remon- 
strance, of which Samuel Adams was the chair- 
man. ... In his common appearance he was 
a plain, simple, decent citizen, of middling stature, 
dress, and manners. He had an exquisite ear for 
music, and a charming voice, when he pleased to 
exert it. Yet his ordinary speeches in town meet- 
ings, in the House of Representatives, and in Con- 
gress, exhibited nothing extraordinary ; but upon 
great occasions, when his deeper feelings were ex- 
cited, he erected himself, or rather Nature seemed 
to erect him, without the smallest symptom of atFec- 
tation, into an upright dignity and gesture, and 
gave a harmony to his voice which made a strong 
impression on spectators and auditors, — the more 
lasting for the purity, correctness, and nervous 
elegance of his stj'le. 

Tliis was a delicate and a dangerous crisis. The 
question in the last resort was, whether the town 
of Boston should become a scene of carnage and 
desolation or not. Humanity to the soldiers con- 
spired with a regard for the safety of the town, in 



JOHN ADAMS. 79 

suggesting the wise measure of calling the town 
tosrcther to deliberate. For nothin<x short of tlio 
most solemn promises to the people that the sol- 
diers should, at all hazards, be driven from the 
town, had preserved its peace. Not only the im- 
mense assemblies of the people from day to day, 
but military arrangements from night to night, 
were necessary to keep the people and the soldiers 
from getting together by the ears. The life of a 
red-coat would not have been safe in any street or 
corner of the tovv^n. Nor would the lives of the 
inhabitants have been much more secure. The 
whole militia of the city was in requisition, and 
military watches and guards were everywhere 
placed. We were all upon a level ; no man was 
exempted ; our military officers w^ere only our 
superiors. I had the honor to be summoned, in 
my turn, and attended at the State House, with 
my musket and bayonet, my broadsword, and 
cartridge-box, under the command of the famous 
Paddock. . . . He called me, connnon soldier as 
I was, frequently to his councils. I had a great 
deal of conversation with him, and no man ap- 
peared more apprehensive of a fatal calamity to the 
town, or more zealous l)y every prudent measure 
to prevent it. 

Such was the situation of afiairs when Samuel 
Adams was reasoning [in the council chamber] 
with Lieutenant-Governor Hutchinson and Lieu- 



80 CHIPS FEOM THE "WTHTE HOUSE. 

tenant-Colonel Dalryniplc. He had fairly driven 
tlicm from all their outvrorks, breastworks, and 
intrenchnicnts, to their citadel. There they paused 
and considered and deliberated. The heads of 
Hutchinson and Dalrymplc were laid together in 
whispers for a long time ; when the y»hisi)cring 
ceased, a long and solemn pause ensued, extreme- 
ly painful to an impatient, expecting audience. 
Hutchinson, in time, broke silence ; he had con- 
sulted with Colonel Dalrymple, and the Colonel 
had authorized him to say that he might order one 
regiment down to the castle, if that would satisfy 
the people. 

With a self-recollection, a self-possession, a self- 
command, a presence of mind that was admired by 
every man present, Samuel Adams arose Vv"ith an 
air of dignity and majesty of Avhich he vras some- 
times capable, stretched forth his arm, though even 
then quivering vrith palsy, and with an harmonious 
voice and decisive tone said, "If the Lieutenant- 
Governor or Colonel Dalrymple, or ])oth together, 
have authority to remove one regiment, they have 
authority to remove two, and nothing short of the 
total evacuation of the toAvn by all the regular 
troops will satisfy the pubhc mind or preserve the 
peace of the province." 

These few words thrilled through the veins of 
every man in the audience, and produced the 
great result. After a little awlrward hesitation, 



JOHN ADAMS. 81 

it was agreed that the tovrn should bo evacuated, 
and both regiments sent to the castle. 

After ail this gravity it is meny enough to relate 
that ^Allliam jMolineux was obliged to march side 
by side with the commander of some of these troops, 
to protect them from the indignation of the people 
in their progress to the wharf of cmbarktiiion to 
the castle. Nor is it less amusing that Lord North, 
as I vv'as repeatedly and credibly informed in Eng- 
land, with his characteristic mixture of good 
hmiior and sarcasm, ever after called these troops 
by the title of " Sam Adams' two regiments." 

[From a letter to William Tailor, with reference to the of- 
fensive " writs of nssistanco," inquisitorial revenue reg- 
ulations, sought to be forced upon the pcoph;.*] 

QuixcY, 20 March, 1817. 

Whenever you shall find a painter, male 

or female, I pray you suggest a scene and a sub- 
ject for the pencil. 

The scene is the Council Chamber, in the old 
Tov»n House, in Boston. The date is in the 
month of February, 1761. . . . The Council 

* A special effort to enforce the navigation laws, and to 
prevenl; the colonists from trading with other nations, was 
maile by Parliament, in 1761, Ijy means of "Writs of Assi-t- 
ance," or general search-warrants, authorizing any sheriff, 
or officer of the customs, to enter a store or private dwelling, 
an 1 search for foreign merchandise which he sutsijeded had 
not paid duty. 



82 CHIPS FROM THE WHITE HOUSE. 

Chamber was as respectable an apartment as the 
House of Commons, or the House of Lords, m 
Great Britian, in proportion. ... In this cham- 
ber, round a great fire, were seated five judges, 
with Lieutenant-Governor Hutchinson at their head 
as Chief Justice, all arrayed in their nev/, fresh, 
rich robes of scarlet English broadcloth ; in their 
large cambric bands and immense judicial wigs. 
In this chamber were seated at a long ta])lc all the 
barristers-at-law of Boston, and of the neighbor- 
ing county of Middlesex, in gowns, bands, and tie 
wigs. They were not seated on ivory chairs, but 
their dress was more solemn and more pompous 
than that of the Roman Senate when the Gauls 
broke in upon them. . . . Two portraits, at 
more than full length, of King Charles the Sec- 
ond and of King James the Second, in splendid 
golden frames, were hung up on the most con- 
spicuous sides of the apartment. . . . One 
circumstance more. Samuel Quinc}^ and John 
Adams had l)ecn admitted barristers at that 
term. John was the youngest ; he should be 
painted looking like a short, thick archbishop of 
Canterbury, seated at a table, with a pen in his 
hand, lost in admiration, now and then minuting 
those i)oor notes which your pupil, Judge ^Minot, 
has printed in his history. . . . You have now 
the stage and the scenery ; next follows a narra- 
tion of the subject — [arguing the question of the 
legality of the " writs of assistance."] 



JOHN ADAMS. 83 

Now for the actors and performers. Mr. Grid- 
ley argued, with his characteristic learning, inge- 
nuity, and dignity, and said everything that could 
be said in favor of (Cockle's [the deputy-collector's] 
petition [for writs of assistance] ; all depending, 
hoAvever, on the " if the Parliament of Great Brit- 
ain is the sovereign legislature of all the British 
empire." Mr. Thacher followed him on the other 
side, and argued with the softness of manners, the 
ingenuity and cool reasoning, which were remark- 
able in his amiable character. 

But Otis * was a flame of fire ! With a promp- 
titude of classical allusions, a depth of research, 
a rapid summary of historical events and dates, a 
profusion of legal authorities, a prophetic glance 
of his eye into futurity, and a torrent of impetuous 
eloquence, he hurried away ever^'thing before him. 
American independence was then and there born ; 
the seeds of patriots and heroes were then and 
there sown, to defend the vigorous youth, the non 
sine Dii's nnimosus infnns. Every man of a 
crowded audience appeared to me to go away, 
as I did, ready to take arms against writs of 

* James Otis was the advocate for the Admiralty, whose 
dat}'^ it was to avgno in favor of the Writs ; but he resigned, 
in order to plead the cause of the people. " To my dying 
day," he said, " I will oppose, with all the power and facul- 
ties God has given me all such instruments of slavery on 
the one hand, and villany on the other." — Pattoii's Historrj 
of the United States. 



84 CHIPS FIJO.1I THE WHITE HOUSE. 

assistance. Then and there "svas the first pcene cf 
the first act of opposition to the arbitrary claims 
of Great Britain. Then and there the child Inde- 
pendence was born. In fifteen years, namely, in 
17 7G, he grew up to manhood, and declared him- 
self free. . . . iSlr. Otis's popularity was without 
bounds. In jSIay, 17G1, he was elected into the 
House of Representatives by an almost unanimous 
vote. On the week of his election I happened to 
be at Worcester, attending the Court of Common 
Pleas, of v/hicli Brigadier Ruggles was Chief Jus- 
tice, when the news an'ived from Boston of Mr. 
Otis's election. You can have no idea of the con- 
sternation among the government peoplo. Chief 
Justice Ruggles, at dinner at Colonel Chandler's 
on that day, said, " Out of this election will arise 
a d — d faction which will shake this province to its 
foundation." Rugg-les's foresight reached not be- 
yond his nose. That election has shaken two 
continents, and will shako all four. For ten years 
Mr. Otis, at the head of his country's cause, con- 
ducted the town of Boston, and the people of the 
province, with a prudence and fortitude, at every 
sacrifice of personal interest, and ann'dst unceasing 
persecution, which would have done lionor to the 
most virtuous patriot or martyr of antiquity. 

The minutes of Mr. Otis's argument are no 
better a representation of it than the gleam of a 
glow-worm to the meridian blaze of the sun. 



JOHN ADAMS. 85 



[To Robert I. Evans, 1819.] 
I have, through my Vk^hole life, held the practice 
of slavery in such abhorrence, that I have never 
owned a negro or any other slave, though I have 
lived for many years m times when the practice 
was not disgraceful, when the best men in my 
vicinity thought it not inconsistent with their char- 
acter, and when it has cost me thousands of dol- 
lars for the labor and subsistence of freemen, which 
I might have saved by the purchase of negroes at 
times when they were very cheap. 

[To Saurael Millc-r, 1820.] 

That you and I shall meet in a better 

world, I have no more doubt than I have that we 
nov\^ exist on the same globe, if my natural reason 
did not convince me of this. Cicero's Dream of 
Scipio, and his essays on friendship and old age, 
would have been sufficient for the purpose. But 
Jesus has taught us that a future state is a social 
state, when he promised to prepare places in his 
Father's house of many mansions, for his disciples. 

[To Thomas Jcnevson, 1820.] 
When we say God i;j a spirit, we know what we 
mean, as well as vrc do when we say that the pj'r- 
amido of Egypt arc matter. Lot us be content, 
therefore, to believe him to be a spirit, that is, an 
essence that wc know nothing of, in which ori^i- 



86 CHIPS FROM THE AVHITE HOUSE. 

nally and necessarily reside all energy, all power, 
all capacity, all activity, all wisdom, all goodness. 

[To Richard Rush, 1821.] 
Strait is the gate, and narrow is the way that 
leads to liberty, and few nations, if any, have 
found it. 

[To Thomas Jefferson, 1821.] 
I may refine too much, I may be an enthusiast, 
but I think a free government is a complicated 
piece of machinery, the nice and exact adjustment 
of whose springs, wheels, and weights, is not yet 
well comprehended by the artists of the age, and 
still less by the people. 

[To Richard Rush. 1821.] 
Never before, but once, in the whole course of 
my life, was my soul so melted into the milk of 
human kindness ; and that once was when four or 
five hundred line young fellows aj)peared before 
me in Philadelphia, presenting an address, and 
receiving my answer. On both occasions I felt as 
if I could lay down a hundred lives to preserve 
the liberties and promote the prosperity of so 
noble a risinsf o-eneration. 



■"o &^ 



[To Thomas Jefferson, 1823.] 
Eight and justice have had hard fare in this 
world, but there is a Power above Avho is capable 
and willing to put all things right in the end. 



JOHN ADAMS. 87 

[To Thomas Jefifevson, 1825.] 

The substance and essence of Christianity, as I 
understand it, is eternal and unchangeal)lc, and 
■will bear examination forever ; but it has been 
mixed with extraneous ingredients, which I think 
will not bear examination, and they ought to bo 
separated. 



88 CHIPS FROM THE WHITE HOUSE. 



THOMAS JEFFERSON. 

BORN, 1740; DIED, 182G, AGED S3. — ENTERED WILLIAJ.I AND 
MAKY COLLEGE, VA., ITGO. — BEGAN PRACTICE OF LAW, 17C7. 

— MEMBER OF HOUSE OF BURGESSES, VA., 17C0. — MEMBER 
OF VIRGINIA CONVENTION, 1771.— DELEGATE TO CONGRESS, 
177D.— VfROTE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE, 177G. — 
MEMBER OF A CONVENTION TO FRAME A CONSTITUTION 
FOR VIRGINIA, 177G.— PROCURED PASSAGE OF A BILL PRO- 
HIBITING THE FUTURE i:\IPORTATION OF SLAVES, 1778.— 
GOVERNOR OF VIRGINIA, 1770. — DELEGATE TO CONGRESS, 
1780. — MINISTER PLENIPOTENTIARY TO EUROPE, 1781.— 
MINISTER TO FRANCE, 17S5. — SECRETARY OF STATE, 17C0. 

— VICE-PRESIDENT, 1707.— PRESIDENT, ISOl-lSOO. — TOOK AC- 
TIVE PART IN ESTABLISHING THE UNIVERSITY OF VIR- 
GINIA, 1817. 

Trained in these successive schools, (the 
Virginia Assembly, the Council of Sttitc, mid 
Congress,) he [Madison] acquired a habit of self- 
possession which placed at ready connnand the 
rich resources of his luminous and discriminatin<>' 
mind, and of his extensive information, and ren- 
dered him the first of every assembly after^vard 
of which he became a meml)er. Never wandering 
from his subject into vain declamation, but pur- 
suing it closcl}', in language pure, classical, and 
copious, soothing ahvays the feelings of his adver- 
saries by civilities and softness of expression, he 



THOMAS JEFFERSON. 89 

roso to the eminent station which he held in the 
gre.it National Convention of 1787 ; and in that 
of Virginia, v/hich ibllo"\ved, he sustained the new 
conatitution in all its parts, bearing off the palm 
against the logic of George jMason, and the fervid 
declamation of Mr. Ileniy. With these consum- 
mate powers Avas united a pure and spotless virtue, 
Vv^hich no calumny has ever attempted to Gully. 
Of the povvers and polish of his pen, and of the 
wisdom of his administration in the highest office 
of the nation, I need say nothing. They have 
spoken, and will forever speak for themselves. — 
Writings.) Vol. I, p. 33. 

The bill [in the General Assembly of Virginia] 
for establishing religious freedom ... I had dravrn 
in all the latitude of reason and right. It still met 
with opposition ; but, with some mutilation in the 
preamble, it was linally passed ; and a singular 
proposition proved that its protection of opinion 
was meant to be universal. Where the preamble 
declares that coercion is a departure from the plan 
of the holy author of our religion, an amendment 
was proposed, by inserting the W'Ords " Jesus 
Christ," GO that it should read, " a departure from 
the plan of Jesus Christ, the holy author of our 
religion"; the insertion vv-as rejected by a great 
mnjorit}', in proof that they meant to comprehend 
within the mantle of its protection, tho Jew and 



90 CHIPS FROM THE WHITE HOUSE. 

the Gentile, the Christian and I\lahometan, (he 
Hindoo, and Inlidol of cveiy denomination. — 
Writings, Vol. I., 3G. 

[Letter to Jolin Randol]:)]!.] 

Kovember 29, 1773. 

Believe me, dear sir, there is not in the 

British empire a man Avho more cordially loves a 
union with Great Britain than I do. But, by the 
God Ihat made me, I will cease to exist before I 
yield to a connection on such terms as the British 
Parliament propose ; and in this, I think I speak 
the sentiments of America. 



The passage of the Patowmac [Potomac] through 
the Blue Ridge is perhaps one of the most stupen- 
dous scenes in nature. You stand on a very high 
point of land. On your right comes up the Shen- 
andoah, having ranged along the foot of the moun- 
tain an hundred miles to seek a vent. On your 
left a})proachcs the Patowmac, in quest of a pas- 
sage also. In the moment of their junction they 
rush together against the mountain, rend it asun- 
der, and pass oH' to the sea. The first glance of 
this scene hurries our senses into the opinion that 
this earth has been created in time, that the moun- 
tains were formed first, that the rivers began to 
flow afterwards, that in this place particularly they 
have been dammed up by the Blue ridge of moun- 
tains, and have formed an ocean which filled the 



THOMAS JEFFERSON. 91 

whole valley ; that continuing to rise, they have at 
length broken over at this spot, and have torn the 
mountain down from its Gummit to its base. The 
piles of rock on each hand, but particularly on the 
Shenandoah, the evident mar]vs of their clisrupturo 
and avulsion from their beds by the most povverful 
agents of nature, corroborate the impression. 

But the distant finishino; which natiu'e has G;iven 
to the picture is of a very different character. It 
is a true contrast to the foreground. It is as placid 
and delightful as that is wild and tremendous. For 
the mountain being cloven asunder, she presents 
to your eye, through the cleft, a small patch of 
smooth, blue horizon, at an inlinite distance in the 
plain country, inviting you as it were from the riot 
and tumult roaring around to pass through the 
breach and participate of the calm below. Here 
the eye ultimately composes itself; and that way 
too the road happens actually to lead. You cross 
the Patowmac above the junction, pass along its 
side through the base of the mountain for three 
miles, its terrible precipices hanging in fragments 
over you, and vdthin about twenty miles reach 
Fredericktown, and the fine country round that. 
This scene is worth a voyage across the Atlantic. 
— 1781. JV^otes on Virginia. 

The Natural Bridge, the most sublime of nature's 
works, ..... is on the ascent of a hill, which 



02 CHIPS FROM THE WHITE HOUSE. 

seems to have been cloven through its length by 
some great convulsion. The fissure, just at the 
bridge, is, by some admeasurements, tvv'o hundred 
and seventy feet deep, by others only tvro hundred 
and five. It is about forty-five feet wide at the 
bottom, and ninety feet at the top ; this of course 
determines the len2:th of the bridge, and its hei^'ht 
from the water. Its breadth in tlie middle is about 
sixty feet, but more at the ends, and the thickness 
of the mass, at the summit of the arch, about forty 
feet. A part of this thickness is constituted by 
a coat of earth, which gives growth to many largo 
trees. 

The residue, with the hill on both sides, is ono 
solid rock of limestone. The arch approaches the 
semi-elliptical form ; but the large axis of the 
ellipsis, which would be the chord of the arch, is 
many times longer than the transverse. Though 
the sides of this bridge are provided in some parts 
with a parapet of fixed rocks, j'ct fev/ men have 
the resolution to walk to them, and look over into 
the abyss. You involuntarily fall upon your hands 
and feet, creep to the parapet, and peep over it. 
Looking down from this height above a minute 
gave mo n violent headache. 

If the viev/ from the top be painful and intoler- 
able, that from belov,- is delightful in an cqu.ii ex- 
treme. It is impossible for the emotions arising 
from the sublime to be felt bej'^oud what they are 



THOMAS JEFFEIISON. 93 

here : so l^eautiful an arch, so elevated, so light, 
and s]")ringing ;is it "were up to heaven, the ra})ture 
of the spectator is really indescribabic ! — 1781. 
JVotes, etc., p. 34. 

THE NEGEOES. 

Whether further observation will or Avill not 
verify the conjecture that nature has been less 
bountiful to them in the endowment of the head, 
I believe that in those of the heart she "will be 
found to have done them justice. That disposi- 
tion to theft with whicli they have been branded 
must be ascribed to their situation, and not to any 
depravity of the moral sense. The man in whose 
favor no laws of property exist probably feels him- 
self less bound to respect those made in favor of 
others. When arguing for ourselves, v\e lay it 
down as a fundamental, that laws, to be just, 
must give a reciprocation of right ; that without 
this they arc mere arbitrary rules of conduct, 
founded in force and not in conscience ; and it 
is a problem which I give to the master to solve, 
whether the religious precepts against the viola- 
tion of property were not framed for him as well 
as his slave ? and whether the slave may not as 
justifiably take a little from one who has taken all 
from him, as he would sla}'' one who would slay 
him? That a change in the relations in which a 
man is placed should change his ideas of moral 



94 CHIPS FEOM THE WHITE HOUSE. 

right and Avrong is neither new nor peculiar to the 
color of the blacks 

Notwithstanding' these considerations, which 
must vveaken their respect for the lavrs of prop- 
erty, we find among them numerous instances 
of the most rigid integrity, and as many as among 
their better-instructed masters, of benevolence, 
gratitude, and unshaken fidelity. 

The opinion that they arc inferior in the faculties 
of reason and imagination must be hazarded with 
great diffidence ; ... let me add, too, as a cir- 
cumstance of great tenderness, Avliere our conclu- 
sion would degrade a whole race of men from th3 
rank in the scale of beings which their Creator 
may, perhaps, have given them. — 1781. iVb^es, 
etc. p. 211. 

There must, doubtless, be an unhapp}'' influence 
on the manners of our pco})lc produced l)3'thc ex- 
istence of slavery among us. The whole com- 
merce between master and slave is a perpetual 
exercise of the most boisterous passions, the most 
unremitting despotism on the one part, and cle- 
gradins: submissions on the other. Our children 
sec this, and learn to imitate it ; for man is an im- 
itative animal. This quality is the germ of all 
education in him. From his cradle to his grave 
he is Icarninij to do what he sees others do. If a 
parent could find no motive either in his philan- 



THOMAS JEFFERSON. 95 

thropy, or Lis self-love, for restraining' the intem- 
perance of passion towards his slave, it should 
always be a sufficient one that his child is present. 
But generally it is not sufficient. The parent 
storms, the child looks on, catches the lineaments 
of "vvrath, puts on the same airs to the circle of 
smaller slaves, gives aloose to the worst of pas- 
sions, and thus nursed, educated, and daily exer- 
cised, cannot but be stamped by it with odious 
peculiarities. The man must be a prodigy who 
can retain his manners and morals undepraved by 
such circumstances. And with what execration 
should the statesman be loaded, who, permitting 
one half the citizens thus to trample on the rights 
of the other, transforms those into despots, and 
these into enemies ; destroys the morals of the one 
part, and the amor i)ntriae of the other. For if a 
slave can have a country in this world, it must be 
any other in preference to that in which he is 
born to live and labor for another, in which he 
must lock up the faculties of his nature, contrib- 
ute, as far as depends on his individual endeavors, 
to the cvanishmcnt of the human race, or entail 
his own miserable condition on the endless genera- 
tions proceeding from him. 

With the morals of the people their industry 
also is destroyed. For in a warm climate no man 
will labor for himself who can make another labor 
for him. This is so true, that of the proprietors 



96 CHIPS FROM THE V.TIITE HOUSE. 

of sLives a very small proportion indeed arc ever 
seen to labor. 

And can the liberties of a nation be thought 
secure when we have removed their only lirm 
basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that 
these liberties arc of the gift of God ; that they are 
not to be violated l)ut "with his wrath ? Indeed I 
tremble for my country when I reflect that God is 
just ; that his justice cannot sleep forever ; that 
considering numbers, nature, and natural means 
only, a revolution of the Avlieel of fortune, an ex- 
change of situation, is among possible events ; that 
it may become probable by supernatural inter- 
ference ! The Almighty has no attribute Vvhich 
can take side with us in such a contest. — 1781. 
JVotes, etc., p. 240. 

What an incomprehensible machine is man ! 
who can endure toil, famine, strife, imprisonment, 
and death itself, in vindication of his own liberty, 
and the next moment be deaf to all those motives 
whose power supported him through his trial, and 
inflict on his fellow-man a bondage, one hour of 
which is fraught with more misery than ages of 
that which he rose in rebellion to oppose. — Letter 
to a friend. 

We must wait with patience the workings of an 
overruling Providence, and hope that that is pre- 
paring the deliverance of these our brethren. 



THOMAS OT^FFEKSOX. 97 

WTien the measure of their tears shall l^e full, 
uhen their groans shall have involved Heaven 
itself in darkness, doubtless. a God of justice will 
awaken to their distress. Nothing is more cer- 
tainly written in the Book of Fate than that this 
people shall be free. — 1778, 

I served with General Washington, in the legis- 
lature of Virginia, l^cibre the revolution, and, 
during it, with Dr. Frankhn, in Congress. I 
never heard either of them speak ten minutes at a 
time, nor to any but the main point, which was to 
decide the question. They laid their shoulders to 
the great points, knowing that the little ones 
would follow of themselves. — Writings^ Vol. I., 
p. 47. 

It is not by the consolidation or concentration 
of powers, but by their distribution, that good 
government is effected. Were not this great 
country already divided into States, that division 
must be made ; that each might do for itself what 
concerns itself directly, and what it can so much 
better do than a distant authority. Every State 
again is divided into counties, each to take care of 
what lies within its local l)ounds ; each county 
again into townships, or wards, to mnnage mmuter 
details ; and every ward into farms, to bti gov- 
erned each by its individual proprietor. lV<,'rc we 
directed from Washington when to sow, and when 



98 CHIPS FROM THE WHITE HOUSE. 

to reap, we should soon want bread. It is by this 
partition of cares, descending in gradation from 
general to particular, that the mass of human 
afiairs may be best managed, for the good and 
prosperity of all. — Writings, Vol. I., p. Q>Q. 

[Letter to Peter CaiT, Aug. 19, 1785. J 

Give up money, give up fame, give up 

science, give the earth itself and all it contains, 
rather than do an immoral act. . . . Whenever 
you are to do a thing, though it can never be 
known but to yourself, ask yourself how you 
would act, were all the world looking at you, and 
act accordingly. ... If ever you find yourself 
environed with difficulties and peiplexing circum- 
stances, out of which you are at a loss how to 
extricate yourself, do what is right, and be assured 
that that will extricate you the best out of the 
worst situations. Though you cannot see, when 
you take one step, what will be the next, yet follow 
truth, justice, and plain dealing, and never fear 
their leading you out of the labyrinth, in the easi- 
est manner possible. . . . Nothing is so mistaken 
as the supposition that a person is to exti'icate 
himself from a difliculty by intrigue, by chicanery, 
by dissimulation, by trimming, by an untruth, by 
an injustice. This increases the difficulties ten- 
fold; and those who pursue these methods get 
themselves so involved at length, that they can 



THOMAS JEFFERSON. 99 

turn no way but their infamy becomes more ex- 
posed. It is of great importance to set a resolu- 
tion not to be shaken, never to tell an untruth. 
. . . This falsehood of the tongue leads to that 
of the heart, and in time depraves all its good 
dispositions. — Writings, Vol. I., 285. 

[To a friend who had invited him to share in some promis- 
ing business enterprise, he rej^lied] : 

When I first entered on the stage of public life 
(now twentj^-four years ago) , I came to a resolu- 
tion never to engage, while in public office, in any 
kind of enterprise for the improvement of my for- 
tune, nor to wear any other character than that of 
a farmer. I have never departed from it in a sin^ 
gle instance ; and I have, in multiplied instances, 
found myself happy in being able to decide and to 
act as a public servant, clear of all interest, in the 
multiform questions that have arisen, wherein I 
have seen others embarrassed and biassed by hav- 
inof o'ot themselves in a more interested situation. 
Then I have thought myself richer in contentment 
than I should have been with any increase of 
fortune. Certainly I should have been much 
wealthier had I remained in that private condi- 
tion which renders it lawful and even laudable to 
use proper efibrts to better it. 

An honest heart being the first blessing, a know- 
ing head is the second. — Writings. 



100 CHIPS FEOM THE WHITE HOUSE. 

The object of walking is to relax the mind. You 
should therefore not permit yourself even to think 
while you walk, but direct your attention by the 
objects surrounding you. Walking is the best 
possible exercise. — Vol. I., p. 287. 

The modern Greek is not yet so far departed 
from its ancient model, but that we might still 
hope to see the language of Homer and Demosthe- 
nes flow with purity from the lips of a free and 
ingenious people. — Vol. I., p. 289. 

You have formed a just opinion of Monroe. He 
is a man whose soul might be turned 'WTong side 
outward, without discovering a blemish to the 
world. — Vol. II.- p. 15. 

I think that by far the most important bill in 
our whole code, is that for the difiasion of knowl- 
edge among the people. No other sure founda- 
tion can be devised for the preservation of freedom 
and happiness. If anybody thinks that kings, 
nobles, or priests are good conservators of the 
public happiness, send him here. It is the best 
school in the universe to cure him of that folly. 
He will see here, with his own eyes, that these 
descriptions of men are an abandoned confederacy 
against the '\appiness of the mass of the people. — 
Letter froi Paris, 178G, Vol. II., 45. 



THOMAS JEFFERSON. 101 

Preach a crusade against ignorance ; establish 
and improve the law for educating the common 
people. 

The Virginia act for religious freedom has been 
received with infinite approbation in Europe, and 
propagated with enthusiasm. I do not mean by 
the governments, but by the individuals who com- 
pose them. It has been translated into French 
and Itahan, has been sent to most of the courts of 
Europe, and has been the best evidence of the 
falsehood of those reports which stated us to be in 
anarchy. It is inserted in the new Encyclopedle 
and is appearing in most ot the publications re- 
specting America. In fact, it is comfortable to see 
the standard of reason at length erected, after so 
many ages, during which the human mind has 
beenheldin vassalage by kings, priests, and nobles, 
and it is honorable for us to have produced the first 
legislature who had the courage to declare that the 
reason of man may be trusted with the formation 
of his own opinions. — Vol. II., p. 64. 1786. 

The rights of conscience we never submitted, 
we could not submit. "We are answerable for them 
to our God. The legitimate powers of government 
extend to such acts only as are injurious to others. 
But it does me no injury for my neighbor to say 
there are twenty gods, or no god. It neither [)icks 



102 CHIPS FROM THE WHITE HOUSE. 

my pocket nor breaks my leg, If it be said his 
testimony in a court of justice cannot be relied on, 
reject it then, and be the stigma on him. Con- 
straint may make him worse by making him a 
hypocrite, but it will never make him a truer man. 
It may jSx him obstinately in his errors, but will 
not cure them. Reason and free inquiry are the 
only effectual agents against error. Give aloose 
to them, they will support the true religion, by 
bringing every false one to their tribunal, to the 
test of their investigation. They are the natural 
enemies of error, and of error only. — JS^otes. 

[From the Declaration of Independence.] 
When, in the course of human events, it be- 
comes necessary for one people to dissolve the 
pohtical bands which have connected them with 
another, and to assume, among the powers of the 
earth, the separate and equal station to which the 
laws of nature and of nature's God entitle them, a 
decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires 
that they should declare the causes which impel 
them to the separation. 

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all 
men are created equal ; that they are endoAved by 
their Creator with certain unalienable rights ; that 
among these are life, hberty, and the i)ursuit of 
happiness. That, to secure these rights, govern- 
ments are instituted among men, deriving their 



THOMAS JEFFERSON. 103 

just powers from the consent of the governed ; 
that, whenever any form of government becomes 
destructive of these ends, it is the right of the 
people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute a 
new government, laying its foundation on such 
principles, and organizing its power in such form, 
as to them shall seem most likely to effect their 
safety and happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dic- 
tate that governments long established should not 
be changed for light and transient causes ; and, 
accordingly, all experience hath shown, that man- 
kind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are 
sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing 
the forms to which they are accustomed. But, 
when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pur- 
suing invariably the same object, evinces a design 
to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is 
their right, it is their duty, to throw off such gov- 
ernment, and to provide new guards for theii* fu- 
ture security. 

[A passage in the original draft of the Declaration of In- 
dependence, which was sti'icken out by Congress.*] 

He [George III.] has waged cruel war against 
human nature itself, violatinii" its most sacred riijhts 
of life and liberty in the persons of a distant peo- 

* The clause reprobating the enslaving the inhabitants of 
Africa was struck out in complaisance to South Carolina and 
Georgia, who had never attempted to restrain the im^wrta- 
tion of slaves, and who, on tiie contrary, stiU wished to con- 



104 cirrrs FKo:\r ttte ayiitte house. 

pie who never offended him, captivating and cany- 
ing them into .slavery in another hemisphere, or to 
incur miserable death in their transportation thither. 
This piratical warfare, the opprobrium of infidel 
powei-s, is the warfare of the Christian king of 
Great Britain. Detennined to keep open a mar- 
ket where men should ])e bought and sold, he has 
prostituted his negative for suppressing every 
legislative attempt to prohibit or restrain this 
execrable commerce. And that this assemblage 
of horrors mioht want no fact of distinsruished 
dye, he is now exciting those very people to rise 
in arms among us, and to purchase that liberty of 
Avhich he has deprived them, by murdering the 
people on whom he has obtruded them ; thus pay- 
ing off former crimes committed against the 
LIBERTIES of ouc pcoplc, witli ci'imes which ho 
urges them to commit against the lives of an- 
other. 

The man who fights for the country is entitled 
to vote. 

"One must be astonished," says the Abbe 
Raynal,* "that America has not yet produced a 

tinue it. Oar nortliern brethren, also, I believe, felt a little 
tender under those censures ; for though their people had 
very few slaves themselves, yet they had been pretty con- 
siderable carriers of them to others. — Thomas Jefferson, 
Writings, Vol. I., p. 15. 
* Died, 1796. 



THOMAS JEFFERSOX. 105 

good poet, an able mathematician, one man of 
genius in a single act or a single science." 

"America has not yet produced one good poet." 
When we shall have existed as a people as long as 
the Greeks did before they produced a Ilojper, the 
Romans a Virgil, the French a Racine and Vol- 
taire, the English a Shakespeare and INIilton, should 
this reproach be still true, we will inquire from 
what unfriendly causes it has proceeded, that the 
other countries of Europe and quarters of the 
earth shall not have inscribed any name in the roll 
of poets. Has the world as yet produced more 
than two poets acknowledged to be such by all 
nations? An Englishman only reads Milton with 
delight, an Italian Tasso, a Frenchman Henriade, 
a Portuguese Camoens, but Homer and Virgil have 
been the rapture of every age and nation ; they 
are read with enthusiasm in their originals by 
those who can read the originals, and in transla- 
tions by those who cannot.* 

But neither has America produced "one able 
mathematician, one man of genius in a single art 
or a single science." In war we have produced a 
Washington, whose memory will be adored while 
liberty shall have votaries ; whose name will tri- 
umph over time, and will in future ages assume its 
just station among the most celebrated worthies of 

* Tliis sentence has been transferred from a note to the 
text. 



106 CHIPS FROM THE WHITE HOUSE. 

the world, when that wretched philosophy shall be 
foro-otten which would have arransred him amoncr 
the degeneracies of nature.* In physics we have 
produced a Franklin, than whom no one of the 
presen||,age has made more important discoveries, 
nor has enriched philosophy with more, or more 
ingenious, solutions of the phenomena of nature. 
We have supposed Mr. Rittenhouse second to no 
astronomer living ; that in genius he must be the 
first, because he is self-taught. As an artist he 
has exhibited as great a proof of mechanical genius 
as the world has ever produced. 

As in philosophy and war, so in government, 
in oratory, in painting, in the plastic art, we might 
show that America, though but a child of yester- 
day, has already given hopeful proofs of genius, 
as well as of the nobler kinds, which arouse the 
best feelings of man, which call him into action, 
which substantiate his freedom, and conduct him 
to happiness, as of the subordinnte, which serve to 
amuse him only. 

We, therefore, suppose that this reproach is as 
unjust as it is unkind ; and that, of the geniuses 
which adorn the present age, America contributes 
its full share. For comparing it with those coun- 
tries where genius is most cultivated, where are 

* Referring to Buflfon's theory " of the temlency of nature 
to buhttle her productions on this side of the Athxntic." 



THOMAS JEFFERSON. 107 

the most excellent models of art, and scafiblding 
for the attainment of science, as France and Eng- 
land, for instance, we calculate thus : The United 
States contain 3,000,000 of inhabitants ; France, 
20,000,000 ; and the British Islands, 10,000,000. 
We produce a Washington, a Franklin, a Eit- 
tenhouse. France, then, should have half a dozen 
in each of these lines, and Great Britain half that 
number, equally eminent. — Notes, p. 97. 

In every government on earth is some trace of 
human weakness, some germ of corruption and 
degeneracy, which cunning will discover, and 
wickedness insensibly open, cultivate, and im- 
prove. Every government degenerates when 
trusted to the rulers of the people alone. The 
people themselves then are its only safe deposito- 
ries. And to render them safe, their minds must 
be improved to a certain degree. — 1781. Notes, 
p. 220. 

But are there no inconveniences to be thrown 
into the scale against the advantage expected from 
a multiplication of numbers by the importation of 
foreigners ? It is for the happiness of those united 
in society to harmonize as much as possible in 
matters which they must of necessity transact 
together. Civil government being the sole object 
of forming societies, its administration must be 



108 CHIPS FROM THE WHITE HOUSE. 

conducted by common consent. Every species 
of government lias its specific principles. Ours, 
perhaps, are more peculiar than those of any other 
in the universe. It is a composition of the freest 
principles of the English constitution with others 
derived from natural reason. To these nothing 
can be more opposed than the maxims of al)Solute 
monarchies. Yet from such we are to expect the 
greatest number of emigrants. They will bring 
with them the principles of the governments they 
leave, imbibed in their early youth ; or, if able to 
throw them off, it will be in exchange for an un- 
bounded licentiousness, passing, as is usual, from 
one extreme to another. It would be a miracle 
were they to stop precisely at the point of tem- 
perate liberty. These principles, with their lan- 
guage, they will transmit to their children. In 
proportion to their numbers, they will share with 
us the legislation. They will infuse into it their 
spirit, warp and bias its directions, and render it 
a heterogeneous, incoherent, distracted mass. . . . 
If they come of themselves, they are entitled to 
all the rights of citizenship ; but I doubt the 
expediency of inviting them, by extraordinary en- 
couragements. — 1781. JVotes, p. 128. 

[From his first Inaugural Address, ]\Iarch 4, 1801.] 

Every difference of opinion is not a difference 
of principle. We have called by different names 



THOMAS JEFFERSON. 109 

brethren of the same principle. We are all Re- 
publicans — we are all Federalists. If there be 
any among us who would wish to dissolve this 
Union, or to change its republican form, let them 
stand undisturljed, as monuments of the safety 
with which error of opinion may be tolerated 
where reason is left free to combat it. 

Sometimes it is said that man cannot be trusted 
with the government of himself. Can he then be 
trusted with the ijovernment of others ? Or have 
we found anjrels in the form of kinsrs to govern 
him? Let history answer the question. 

Peace, commerce, and honest friendship with all 
nations — entangling alliances with none. 

March 23, 1801. 

I am in hopes . . . they will find that 

the Christian religion, when divested of the rags 
in which they have enveloped it, and brought to 
the original purity and simplicity of its benevolent 
institutor, is a religion above all others most 
friendly to liberty, science, and the freest ex- 
pression of the human mind. 

March 29, 1801. 

Civil Service. — The right of opinion shall suffer 
no invasion from me.* Those who have acted well, 

* He had just become President. 



110 CHIPS FROM THE WHITE HOUSE. 

have nothing to fear; those who have done ill, 
however, have nothing to hope ; nor shall I fail to 
do justice, lest it should be ascribed to that differ- 
ence of opinion. 

Had the doctrines of Jesus been preached al- 
ways as pure as they came from his lips, the whole 
civihzed world would now have been Christian. — 
June 26, 1822. 

[Letter to S. A. Wells, May 12, 1829.] 

Samuel Adams : I can say that he was truly a 
great man, wise in council, fertile in resources, 
immovable in his purposes, and had, I think, 
a greater share than any other meml^er [of Con- 
gress] , in advising and directing our measures in 
the Northern war. As a speaker, he could not be 
compared with his living colleague and namesake,* 
whose deep conceptions, nervous style, and un- 
daunted firmness, made him truly our bulwark in 
debate. But Mr. Samuel Adams, although not of 
fluent elocution, was so vigorously logical, so clear 
in his views, abundant in good sense, and master 
always of his subject, that he commanded the 
most profound attention whenever he rose in an 
assembly, by which the froth of declamation was 
heard with the most sovereign contempt. — Writ' 
ings, Vol. /. , 99. 

* Jolm Adams. 



JAMES MADISON. Ill 



JAMES MADISON. 

BOKN, 1751; DIED, 1836, AGED 85.— ENTERED PRINCETON COL- 
LEGE, 1769. — BEGAN PRACTICE OF LAW, 1772, — MEMBER OF 
VIRGINIA CONVENTION, 1776. — OF THE GENERAL ASSEM- 
BLY, 1776.— OF CONGRESS, 1780. — OF THE GENERAL ASSEM- 
BLY, 17S4. — OF THE CON\\ENTION WHICH FRAMED THE 
CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES, 1787. — OF THE 
VIRGINIA CONVENTION, 1788. — OF CONGRESS, 1789. — PRESI- 
DENT, 1809-1817. 

Orange Co., Va., November 9, 1722, 

" I THINK 3"ou make a judicious choice of history 
and the science of morals for your winter's study. 
They seem to be of the most universal benefit to 
men of sense and taste in every post, and must 
certainly be of gi-eat use to youth in settling their 
principles and refining their judgment, as well as 
in enlaroinij knowledo-e and coiTecting; the imagfi- 
nation. I doubt not but you design to season 
them with a little divinity now and then, which, 
like the philosopher's stone, in the hands of a good 
man, will turn them and every lawful acquirement 
into the nature of itself, and make them more pre- 
cious than fine gold. . . . Pray do not suffer 
those impertinent fops that abound in every city to 
divert you from your business and philosophical 
amusements. ... I am luckily out of the way 



112 CHIPS TEOM THE ASTUTE HOUSE. 

of such troubles, l)ut I know you are surrounded 
with them ; for they breed in towns and populous 
places as naturally as flies do in the shambles, be- 
cause there they get food enough for their vanity 
and impertinence." 



[To William Bradford, Jr., Philadelphia.] 

Orange Co., Va., 1774. 

" If the Church of England had been the estab- 
lished and general religion of all the Northern 
Colonies, as it has been among us here, and unin- 
terrupted tranquilhty had prevailed throughout tha 
continent, it is clear to me that slaverj^ and subjec- 
tion might and would have been gradually insinu- 
ated amons: us. Union of relii>ious sentiments 
begets a surprising conlidence, and ecclesiastical 
establishments tend to creat i^-norance and cor- 
ruption ; all of which facilitates the execution of 
mischievous projects 

" I want again to breathe your free air. I expect 
it will mend my constitution and confirm my prin- 
ciples. I have indeed as good an atmosphere at 
home as the climate will allow ; but have nothing 
to brag of as to the state and liberty of my coun- 
try. Poverty and luxury prevail among all sorts ; 
pride, ignorance, and knavery among the priest- 
hood, and vice and wickedness among the laity. 
This is bad enough, but it is not the worst I have 



JA]MES MADISON. 113 

to tell you. That diabolical, hell-conceived prin- 
ciple of persecution rages among some ; and to 
their eternal infamy, the clergy * can furnish their 
quota of imps for such business. This vexes me 
the most of anything whatever. There arc at this 
time in the adjacent county not less than tive or 
six T^ell-meaning men in close jail for pul)lishing 
their religious sentiments, which in the main are 
very orthodox. I have neither patience to hear, 
talk, or think of anything relative to this matter ; 
for I have squabbled and scolded, abused and ridi- 
culed so long about it to little purpose, that I am 
without common patience. So I must l)eg you to 
pity me, and pray for liberty of conscience for 
all." 

[To Mr. Bradford, Philadelphia, 1774.] 

" Our Assembly is to meet the first of May, 
when it is expected something will be done in 
behalf of the dissenters. Petitions, I hear, are 
already forming among the persecuted Baptists, 
and I fancy it is in the thoughts of the Presby- 
terians also to intercede for gi'eater liberty in 
matters of religion. . . . The sentiments of our 
people of fortune and fashion on this subject are 
vastly different from what you have been used to. 
That liberal, catholic, and equitable way of think- 
ins:, as to the rij^hts of conscience, which is one of 

* Of the then established church, — the church of England. 



114 CHIPS FROM THE ■\^^^ITE HOUSE. 

the characteristics of a free people, and so strongly 
marks the people of your Province, is but little 
known among the zealous adherents of our hie- 
rarchy. We have, it is true, some persons in the 
legislature of generous principles both in Religion 
and Politics ; but number, not merit, you know, 
is necessary to carry points there. Besides, the 
clergy [of the church of England] are a numerous 
and powerful body, have great influence at home 
by reason of their connection with and dependence 
on the Bishops and Crown, and will naturally em- 
ploy all their art and interest to depress their 
rising adversaries, for such they must consider 
dissenters, who rob them of the good-will of the 
people, and may in time endanger their livings 
and security. You are happy in dwelling in a 
land where those inestimable privileges are fully 
enjoyed, and the public has long felt the good 
eflects of this religious as well as civil liberty." 



[Fi-om an address to the States, April, 1783. Adopted by 
Congress.] 

Let it be remembered that it has ever been the 
pride and boast of America that the rights for 
which she contended were the rights of human 
nature. By the blessing of the Author of these 
rights on the means exerted for their defence, they 
have prevailed over all opposition, and form the 



JAMES MADISON. 115 

basis of thirteen independent states. No instance 
has heretofore occurred, nor can any instance be 
expected hereafter to occur, in which the unadul- 
terated forms of republican government can pre- 
tend to so fair an O2:)portunity of justifying them- 
selves by their fruits. In this view the citizens of 
the United States are responsible for the greatest 
trust ever confided to a political society. If jus- 
tice, good faith, honor, gratitude, and all other 
qualities which ennoble the character of a nation, 
and fulfil the ends of government, be the fruits of 
our establishment, the cause of liberty will ac- 
quire a dignity and lustre which it has never yet 
enjoyed, and an example will be set which cannot 
but have the most favorable influence on the rights 
of mankind. If, on the other side, our govern- 
ments should be unfortunately blotted with the 
reverse of these cardinal and essential virtues, the 
great cause which we have engaged to vindicate 
will be dishonored and betrayed ; the last and 
fairest experiment in favor of the rights of human 
nature will be turned against them, and their 
patrons and friends exposed to be insulted and 
silenced by the votaries of tyranny and usurpation. 

It were doubtless to be wished that the 

power of prohibiting the importation of slaves had 
not been postponed until the year 1808, or rather 
that it had been suffered to have immediate opera- 



116 CIIIl'S FKO:\I THE A'.TIITE HOUSE. 

tion. But it is not difficult to account either for 
this restriction on the genenil government, or for 
the manner in whicli the whole clause is expressed. 
It ought to be considered as a gi'eat point gained 
in favor of humanity, that a period of twenty 
years may terminate forever within these states 
a traffic wliich has so long and so loudlj" upbraided 
the barbarism of modern policy ; that within that 
})eriod it will receive a considerable discouragement 
from the federal goverament, and may be totally 
abohshed by the concurrence of a few states which 
continue the unnatural traffic, in the prohibitory 
example which has been given by so great a ma- 
jority of the Union. Happy would it be for the 
unfortunate Africans if an equal prospect lay be- 
fore them of being redeemed from the oppression 
of their European brethren ! — Federalist , No. xlii. 

The British constitution was to IMontcsquieu 

what Homer has been to the didactic writers on 
epic poetry. As the latter have considered the 
work of the immortal baixl as the perfect model 
from which the principles and rules of the epic 
art were to be dravni, and by which all similar 
works were to be judged ; so this great political 
critic appears to have viewed the constitution of 
England as the standard, or, to use his own ex- 
pression, as the mirror of political liberty. — 
JFederulisty No. xlvii. 



JAIVIES MADISON. 117 

A popular government, without popular infor- 
mation, or the means of acquiring it, is but a pro- 
logue to a farce or a tragedy, or perhaps to both. 

The great security against the gradual ct)ncen- 
tration of the several powers in the same depart- 
ment, consists in giving to those who administer 
each department the necessary constitutional 
means and personal motives to resist encroach- 
ments of the others. The provision for defence 
must in this, as in all other cases, be made com- 
mensurate to the danger of attack. Ambition 
must be made to counteract ambition. The inter- 
est of the man must be connected with the consti- 
tutional rights of the place. It may be a reflec- 
tion on human nature that such devices should be 
necessary to control the abuses of government. 
But what is government itself l)ut the greatest of 
all reflections on human nature ! If men were 
angels, no government would be necessary. If 
angels were to govern men, neither external nor 
internal controls on government would be neces- 
sary. In framing a government which is to be 
administered by men over men, the great difliculty 
lies in this : you must first enable the government 
to control the governed ; and in the next place 
oblige it to control itself. A dependence on the 
people is no doubt the primary control on the 
government; but experience has taught mankind 



118 CHIPS FROM THE WHITE HOUSE. 

the necessity of auxiliary precautions. — Federulisty 
No. U. 

Justice is the end of government. It is the end 
of civil society. It ever has been, and ever wiU 
be, pursued until it be obtained, or until liberty be 
lost in the pursuit. In a society under the form 
of which the stronger faction can unite and oppress 
the weaker, anarchy may as truly be said to reign 
as in a state of nature, where the weaker individual 
is not secured against the violence of the stronger ; 
and as in the latter state, even the stronger indi- 
viduals are prompted, by the uncertainty of their 
condition, to submit to a government which may 
protect the weak as well as themselves, so in the 
former state, will the more powerful factions or 
parties be gradually induced, by a like motive, to 
wish for a government which will protect all par- 
ties, the weaker as well as the more powerful, . . . 
And happily for the republican cause, the practi- 
cable sphere may be can-ied to a very great extent 
by a judicious modification and mixture of the fed- 
eral principle. 

[To Thomas Jefferson.] 

New York, October 17, 1788. 

"Wlierever the real power in a government re- 
sides, there is the danger of o^Dpression. In our 
government the real power lies in the majority of 



JAMES MADISON. 119 

the community, and the invasion of private rights 
is chiefly to be apprehended, not from acts of gov- 
ernment contrary to the sense of its constituents, 
but from acts in which the government is the mere 
instrument of the major number of the constit- 
uents. This is a truth of great importance, but 
not yet sufficiently attended to. . . . "Wherever 
there is an interest and power to do wrong, wrong 
will generally be done, and not more readily by a 
powerful and interested party than by a powerful 
and interested prince. The difference, so far as it 
relates to the superiority of republics over mon- 
archies, lies in the less degree of probability that 
interest may prompt abuses of power in the former 
than in the latter, and in the security of the former 
against an oppression of more than the smaller 
part of the society, whereas in the latter, it may 
be extended in a manner to the whole. 

[To Thomas Jefferson.] 

New York, May 23, 1789. 

My last enclosed copies of the President's inau- 
gural speech, and the answer of the House of 
Representatives. I now add the answer of the 
Senate. It will not have escaped you that the 
former was addressed with a truly republican sim- 
plicity to George Washington, President of the 
United States. The latter follows the example, 
with the omission of the personal name, but with- 



120 CHIPS FROM THE W1IITE HOUSE. 

out any other than the constitutional title. The 
proceeding on this point was in the House of Eep- 
resentatives spontaneous. The imitation by the 
Senate was extorted. The question became a 
serious one between the two houses. John Adams 
espoused the cause of titles with great earnestness. 
. . . The projected title was, His Highness the 
President of the United States and Protector of their 
liberties. Had the project succeeded, it would 
have subjected the President to a severe dilemma, 
and given a deep wound to our infant government. 

[To Edmund Randolph, New York, 1789.] 

I think it best to give the Senate as little agency 
as possible in executive matters, and to make the 
President as responsible as possible in them. 
Were the heads of departments dependent on the 
senate, a faction in this branch might support 
them against the President, distract the executive 
department, and obstruct the public liusiness. The 
danger of undue power in the President from such 
a regulation is not, to me, formidable. I sec, and 
jDoUtlcalhj feel that that will be the Aveak branch 
of the government. 

[From a message to Congi'ess, 1803. 

The war* has proved that our free govern- 
ment, like other free governments, though slow in 

* The war of 1812-1815, with England. 



JAMES MADISON. 121 

.ltd early movements, acquires in its progress a 
force proportioned to its freedom, and that the 
union of these states, the guardian of the freedom 
and safety of all and of each, is strengthened by 
every occasion that puts it to the test. 

[Letter to Edward Livingston, 1822.] 

I observe with particular pleasure the 

view you have taken of the immunity of religion 
from civil jurisdiction in every case where it does 
not trespass on private rights or the public peace. 
This has always been a favorite principle with 
me ; and it was not with my approbation that the 
deviation from it took place in Congress when 
they appointed chaplains to be paid from the 
national treasury. It would have been a much 
better proof to their constituents of their pious 
feeling, if the members had contributed for the 
purjiose a pittance from their own pockets. 

There has been another deviation from the strict 
principle in the executive proclamation of fasts and 
festivals, so far, at least, as they have spoken the 
language of injunction, or have lost sight of the 
equality of all religious sects in the eye of the con- 
stitution. Whilst I was honored with the execu- 
tive trust I found it necessary on more than one 
occasion to follow the example of predecessors. 
But I was always careful to make the proclama- 
tions absolutely indiscriminate, and merely recom- 
mendatorv 



122 CHIPS FROM THE WHITE HOUSE* 

It was the belief of all sects at one time that the 
establishment of religion by law was right and 
necessary ; that the true religion ought to be 
established in exclusion of every other ; and that 
the only question to be decided was, which was 
the true relio;ion. . . . We are teachino; the 
world the great truth that governments do better 
without kings and nobles than with them. The 
merit will be doubled by the other lesson, that 
religion jlourishes in greater purity without than 
with the aid of government. 

[Letter to Mr. Ringgold, 1831.] 

I need not to say to you how highly I 

rated the comprehensiveness and character of his 
[Monroe's] mind, the purity and nobleness of his 
principles, the importance of his party services, 
and the many private virtues of which his whole 
life was a model. 

[Letter to I. C. Caball, 1831.] 

I know not whence the idea could pro- 
ceed that I concurred in the doctrine, that although 
a state could not nullify a law of the Union, it had 
a right to secede from the Union. Both spring 
from the same piosonous root, unless the right to 
secede be limited to cases of intolerable oppres- 
sion, absolving the party from its constitutional 
obhgations. 

I hope that all who now see the absurdity of 



JAMES MADISON. 123 

nullification will see also the necessity of rejecting 
the claim to effect it through the state judiciaries, 
which can only be kept in the constitutional career 
by the control of the federal jurisdiction. Take 
the linch-pin from a carriage, and how soon would 
a wheel be oif its axle, — an emblem of the speedy 
fiite of the federal system were the parties to it 
loosened from the authority which confines them 
to their sphere. 

[James Monroe.] Few men have eyer made 
more of what may ])e called sacrifices in the ser- 
vice of the public. When he considered the inter- 
ests or the dignity of his country involved, his 
own interest was never regarded. Beside this 
cause, his extreme generosity, not only to the 
numerous members of liis family dependent on 
him, but to friends not united by blood, has greatly 
contributed to his impoverishment. 

[To J. R, Paulding, 1831.] 

[Alexander Hamilton.] That he possessed in- 
tellectual powers of the first order, and the moral 
qualit}^ of integrity and honesty in a captivating 
degiee, has been decreed to him by a sufii'age now 
universal. Of his theory of government, deviating 
from the republican standard, he had the candor 
to avow it, and the greater merit of co-operating 



124 CHIPS FROM THE WHITE HOUSE. 

faithfully in maturing and supporting a system 
which was not his choice. 

[Benjamin Franklin.] He has written his own 
life, and no man had a finer one to write, or a 
better title to be himself the writer. 

[Thomas Jefferson.] It may, on the whole, be 
truly said of him, that he was greatly eminent for 
the comprehensiveness and fertility of his genius, 
for the vast extent and rich variety of his acquisi- 
tions, and particularly distinguished by the phil- 
osophical impress left on every sul:)ject which he 
touched. Nor was he less distinguished for an 
early and uniform devotion to the cause of liberty, 
and systematic preference of a form of government 
squared with strictest degree to the rights of man. 
In the social and domestic spheres, he was a model 
of the virtues and manners which most adorn 
them. 

[John Adams.] That he had a mind rich in 
ideas of his own, as well as its learned store, with 
an ardent love of country, and the merit of being 
a colossal champion of its independence, must be 
allowed by those most offended by the alloy in 
his republicanism, and the fervors and flights origi- 
nating in his moral tcmiierament. 



J.VIMES MADISON. 125 

[To N. P. Trist, 1832.] 

I have received yours of the 19th De- 
cember, enclosing some of the South Carolina pa- 
pers. There are in one of them some interesting 
views of the doctrine of secession — one that had 
occurred to me, and which for the first time I have 
seen in print, namely, that if one state can, at will, 
withdraw from the others, the others can, at will, 
withdraw from her, and turn her, nolentem vohn- 
tern, out of the Union. ... It is high time that 
the claim to secede at will should be put down by 
the public opinion. 

[To Edward Coles, 1834.] 
You call my attention, with much emphasis, to 
the principle that offices and emoluments were the 
spoils of victory, the personal property of the 
successful candidate for the presidency, to be given 
as rewards for electioneering services, and in gen- 
eral to be used as the means of rewarding those 
who support, and of punishing those who do not 
support, the dispenser of the fund. I fully agree 
in all the odium jou attach to such a rule of 
action. 

[To Edward Coles, 1834.] 

Nullification has the eflect of putting 

powder under the Constitution and Union, and a 
match in the hand of every party to blow them up 
at pleasure. 



126 CHIPS FEOM THE WHITE HOUSE. 

[Abolition of the Slave-trade.] 

The dictates of humanity, the principles of tho 
people, the national safety and happiness, and 
prudent policy, require it of us. It is to be hoped 
that by expressing a national disapprobation of the 
trade, we may destroy it, and save our country 
from reproaches, and our posterity from the im- 
becility ever attendant on a country filled with 
slaves. 

It is wrong to admit into the Constitution the 
idea that there can be property in man. 

"We have seen the mere distinction of color 
made, in the most enlightened period of time, a 
ground of the most oppressive dominion ever ex- 
ercised by man over man. 



JAUIES MONROE. 127 



JAJMES MONROE. 

BOKN, 1758 ; DIED, 1831, AGED 73. — EDUCATED AT WILLIAM AND 
MABY COLLEGE. — LIEUTENANT IN THE ABMY, 1776.— IVLi.- 
JOK, 1777. — MEMBER OF ASSEMBLY OF VIRGINIA, 1782. — OF 
THE EXECUTIVE COUNCIL OF VIRGINIA, 1782. — OF CON- 
GRESS, 1783.— RE-ELECTED TO, THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY, 
1787. — DELEGATE TO THE VIRGINIA CONVENTION FOB DE- 
CIDING UPON THE ADOPTION OF THE FEDERAL CONSTI- 
TUTION, 1788.- UNITED STATES SENATOR, 1790.— MINISTER 
TO FRANCE, 1794.— GOVERNOR OF VIRGINIA, 1799. — ENVOY 
EXTRAORDINARY TO FRANCE, 1802. — IVnNISTER PLENIPO- 
TENTIARY TO ENGLAND, 1802. — MEMBER OF VIRGINIA 
GENERAL ASSEMBLY, 1810. — GO^^ERNOR OF VIRGINIA, 1811. 
— SECRETARY OF STATE, 1811. — SECRETARY OF WAR, 1814.— 
PRESIDENT, 1817-1825. 

[From a Message, November 17, 1818.] 

I communicate with great satisfaction 

the accession of another State, Ilhnois, to our 
Union ; because I perceive from the proof aflforded 
by the additions ah-eady made, the regular progress 
and sure consummation of a policy, of which his- 
tory affords no example, and of which the good 
effect cannot be too highly estimated. By ex- 
tending our government on the principles of our 
constitution, over the vast territories within our 
limits, on the Lakes and the Mississippi and its 
numerous streams, new life and visror are infused 



128 CHIPS FROM THE WTTITE HOUSE. 

into every part of our system. By increasing the 
number of the States, the confidence of the State 
governments in their own security is increased, and 
the jealousy of the national government propor- 
tionally diminished. The impracticabihty of one 
consolidated govcrimient for this great and grow- 
ing nation will be more apparent, and will be uni- 
versally admitted. Incapable of exercising local 
authority, except for general purposes, the general 
government will be no longer dreaded. In those 
cases of a local nature, and for all the great pur- 
poses for which it w^as instituted, its authority w^ill 
be cherished. Each government will acquire a 
new force and a greater freedom of action, within 
its proper sphere. 



[From a Message, 1819.] 

Due attention has been paid to the sup- 
pression of the slave trade, in comphance with the 
law of the last session. Orders have been given 
to the commanders of all our public ships to seize 
all vessels navio-ated under our flao- eni?a<2:ed in the 
traffic, and to bring them in, to be proceeded 
against in the manner prescribed by the Islsv. It 
is hoped that these vigorous measures, supported 
by the acts of other nations, will soon terminate a 
commerce so disgraceful to the civilized world. 



JAMES MOXROE. 129 

[From a Message, 1822.] 

The military academy forms the basis, 

in rejjard to s€ieuc'e, on which the military estab- 
lishmeut rests. It furnishes annually, after due 
examination, many well-informed youths to till the 
vacancies wliich occur in the several coi'ps of the 
army, wliile others, who, retii'cd to private life, 
carry with them such attainments as, under the 
right reserved to the several states to appoint the 
officers and train the militia, will enable them, by 
affording a wider field for selection, to promote the 
great object of the power vested in Congress, of 
providing for the organizing, arming, and disci- 
phning the mihtia. Thus, by the mutual and har- 
monious co-operation of the two governments, in 
the exercise of a power divided between them, an 
object always to be cherished, the attainment of a 
great result, on which our liberties may depend, 
cannot fail to be secured. I have to add, that in 
proportion as our regular force is small should the 
instruction and discipline of the militia, the great 
resource on which we rely, be pushed to the ut- 
most extent that circumstances will admit. 

[Fi'om a ^Message, 1821.] 

ExiDerience has already shown that the 

difference of climate and of industry proceeding 
from the cause inseparable from such vast domains, 



130 CHIPS FROM THE WHITE HOUSE. 

and which, under our system, might have a repul- 
sive tendency, cannot fail to produce, with us, 
under wise regulations, the opposite eflect. What 
one part "^v^ants the other may supply, and this will 
be most sensibly felt by the parts most distant 
from each other, forming, thereby, a domestic mar- 
ket and an active intercourse between the extremes, 
and throughout every part of our Union. Thus, 
by a happy distribution of power between the 
National and State governments, governments 
which rest exclusively on the sovereignty of the 
people, and are fully adequate to the great pur- 
poses for which they were respectively instituted, 
causes which might otherwise lead to dismember- 
ment, operate powerfully to draw us closer to- 
gether. 

[Message, December, 1823.] 

The political S3^stem of the allied powers* 

is essentially different from that of America. This 
difference proceeds from that which exists in their 
respective governments. As to the defence of our 
own, which has been achieved by the loss of so 
much blood and treasure, and matured by the Tvis- 
dom of their most enhghtened citizens, and under 

* From 1815 to 1853 the world was substantially pre- 
Bervod from any war of importance by the iive great powers 
who preside over the destinies of Europe, namely, France, 
Great Britain, Russia, Aiistria, and Prussia. — Appleton^s 
Cyclop, 



JAMES MONllOE. 131 

■which we have enjoyed unexampled felicity, this 
whole nation is devoted. AVe owe it therefore to 
candor, and to the amical)le relations existing be- 
tween the United States and those powers to 
declare, that we should consider any attempt on 
their part to extend their system to any portion of 
this hemisphere as dangerous to our peace and 

safety 

Our pohcy with regard to Europe, which we 
adopted at an early stage of the wars which have 
so long agitated that quarter of the globe, never- 
theless remains the same, which is, not to inter- 
fere in t]ie internal concerns of an}" of its pow- 
ers ; to consider the government de facto as the 
legitimate government for us ; to cultivate friendly 
relations with it, and to preserve those relations 
by a frank, firm, and manly policy ; meeting in all 
cases the just claims of every power ; submitting 
to injuries from none. But in regard to those con- 
tinents [North and South America] , circumstances 
are eminently and consjoicuously different. It is 
impossil)le that any allied powers should extend 
their political s^^stem to any portion of either con- 
tinent without endangering our peace and happi- 
ness ; nor can any one believe that our Southern 
brethren, if left to themselves, would adopt it of 
their own accord. It is equally impossiljle, there- 
fore, that Ave should behold such interposition, in 
any form, with indifference. If we look to the 



132 cmrs from the vriiixE house. 

comparative strength and resources of Spain and 
those new governments, and their distance from 
each other, it must be obvious that she can never 
subdue them. It is still the true policy of the 
United States to leave the parties to themselves, 
in the hoi3e that other powers will pursue the same 
course. 

[From a speech in the Virginia Convention.] 

We have found that this evil (slavery) has 
preyed upon the very vitals of the Union, and has 
been prejudicial to all the States in which it has 
existed. 



JOHN QUIXCY ADAMS. 133 



JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 

ROKN, 17157 ; DIED, 1848, AGED, 81. — AT TPIE UNIVERSITY OF 
LEYDEN, 1780. — PRIVATE SECRETARY TO FRANCIS DANA, 
MINISTER TO RUSSIA, 1782. — ENTERED HARVARD COELEGE 
IN ADVANCE, 1786. - BEGAN PRACTICE OF LAW, 1791. — MIN- 
ISTER TO THE HAGUE, 1794. — INIINISTER TO BERLIN, 1797.— 
MEMBER OF MASSACHUSETTS SENATE, 1802. — OF THE 
IGNITED STATES SENATE, 1803. — PROFESSOR OF RHETORIC 
ANT) BELLES LETTRES IN HARVARD COLLEGE, 1806. — INIIN- 
ISTER TO RUSSIA, 1809. — RESIDENT MINISTER IN ENGLANT>, 
1815. — SECRETARY OF STATE, 1817. — PRESIDENT, 1825-1829.— 
REPRESENTATIVE TO CONGRESS, ISai. 

[From an Oration delivered at Plymouth, 1802.] 

This theory [a community of good] results, it 
must be acknowledged, from principles of reason- 
ino; most flatterino^ to the human character. If in- 
dustr}'", frugality, and disinterested integrity w^ere 
alike the virtues of all, there would, apparently, 
be more of the social spirit in making all property 
a common stock, and giving to each individual a 
proportional title to the wealth of the whole. Such 
is the basis upon which Plato forbids in his re- 
public the division of property. Such is the sys- 
tem upon which Rousseau pronounces the first man 
who enclosed a field with a fence, and said, This 
is mine, a trait 3r to the human species. A wiser 



134 CHIPS FR03I THE A^^IITE HOUSE. 

and more useful philosophy, however, directs U3 
to consider man iiccording to the nature in which 
he was formed, — suljject to infirmities Avhich no 
wisdom can remedy ; to weaknesses which no in- 
stitution can strengthen ; to vices which no legis- 
lation can correct. Hence it becomes obvious that 
separate property is the natural and indisputable 
right of separate exertion — that communit}^ of 
goods without community of toil is oppressive and 
unjust ; that it counteracts the laws of nature, 
w^hich prescribe that he only who sows the seed 
shall reap the harvest; that it discourages all 
energy l^y destroying its rewards ; and makes the 
most virtuous and active meml)ers of society the 
slaves and drudges of the w^orst. 

Ehetoric alone can never constitute an orator. 
Ko human art can l)e acquired by the mere knowl- 
edge of the principles upon which it is founded. 
But the artist who understands the principles will 
exercise his art in the highest perfection. 

The profoundest study of the writers upon archi- 
tecture, tlie most laborious contemplation of its 
magniiicent momnncnts, will never niake a mason. 
But the mason thoroughly acquainted with the 
writers, and familiar with the construction of those 
monuments, will surely l)e an abler artist than the 
mere mechanic, ignorrTnt of the mysteries of his 
trade, and even of the names of his tools. — Lec- 
tures on Rhetoric and Oratory, Lect. n. 



JOHN QUINCT ADAMS. 135 

The art of speaking must be most eagerly sought 
where it is found to be most useful. It must be 
most useful where it is capable of producing the 
greatest effects, and that can be in no other state 
of things than where the power of persuasion 
operates upon the will, and prompts the actions 
of other men. The only birthplace of eloquence, 
therefore, must be a free state. Under arbitrary 
governments, where the lot is cast upon one man 
to command, and upon all the rest to obey ; where 
the despot, like the Eoman centurion, has only to 
say to one man. Go, and he goeth, and to another, 
Come, and he cometh, persuasion is of no avail. 
Between authority and obedience there can be no 
deliberation ; and wheresoever submission is the 
principle of government in a nation, eloquence can 
never arise. Eloquence is the child of liberty, and 
can descend from no other stock. . . . Our institu- 
tions, from the smallest municipal associations, to 
the great national bond, which links this continent 
in union, are republican. Their vital principle is 
li])erty. Persuasion, or the influence of reason 
and of feeling, is the great if not the only instru- 
ment whose operation can efiect the acts of all our 
corporate bodies : of towns, cities, counties, states, 
and of the whole confederated empire. Here, then, 
eloquence is recommended by the most elevated 
usefulness, and encouraged by the promise of the 
most precious rewards. — Lect. ii. 



1?)C) CHIPS FRmr ttie white house. 

When the cause of ages and the fate of nations 
hang upon the thread of a debate, the orator may 
fairly consider himself as addressing not only his 
immediate hearers, but the world at large, and all 
future times. Then it is, that, looking beyond the 
moment in which he speaks, and the immediate 
issue of the deliberation, he makes the question of 
an hour a question for every age and every region ; 
takes the vote of unborn millions upon the debate 
of a little senate ; and incorporates himself and his 
discourse with the general history of manldnd. 
On such occasions and at such times, the oration 
naturally and properly assumes a solemnity of 
manner and a dignity of language commensurate 
■with the grandeur of the cause. Then it is that 
deliberative eloquence lays aside the plain attire 
of her daily occupation, and assumes the port and 
purple of the queen of the world. Yet even then 
she remembers that majestic grandem- best com- 
ports with simplicity. Her crown and sceptre may 
blaze with the brightness of the diamond, but she 
must not, like the kinjxs of the o-oro-eous east, be 
buried under a shower of barbaric pearls and gold. 
— Lect. XI. 

[From his Diuiy, Augnst 19, 1822, when Secretary of State.] 

Answered General Dearborn's letter, and re- 
ceived one from my wife, chietly upon an attack 
against me in one of the Philadelphia newspapers 



joiiN Qinisrcri' adams. 137 

on account of the negligence of my dress. It 
says that I wear neither waistcoat nor cravat, and 
sometimes go to church barefoot. My wife is 
much concerned at this, and several of my friends 
at Philadelphia have spoken to her of it as a seri- 
ous ajffair. In the Washington City Gazette, some 
person unknown to me has taken the cudgels in 
my behalf, and answered the accusation gravely as 
if the charge were true. It is true only as re- 
regards the cravat, instead of which, in the extrem- 
ity of the summer heat, I wear round my neck a 
black silk ribbon. But even in the falsehood of 
this charge what I may profitably remember is the 
perpetual and malignant watchfulness with which 
I am observed in my open day and my secret 
night, with the deliberate purpose of exposing me 
to public obloquy or public ridicule. There is 
nothing so deep and nothing so shallow which po- 
litical enmity will not turn to account. Let it be 
a warning to me to take heed to my ways. 

[From his Diary, October 13, 1822.] 

This ode [Pope's " Dj'^ing Christian to his Soul "] 
is exquisitely beautiful, though most singularly 
compounded of five half-ludicrous Latin lines, said 
to have been spoken by the emperor Hadrian at 
the article of death, of Sappho's fiery lyric ode ; 
and of that triumphant and transporting apos- 
trophe of St. Paul, in the fift}'-fifth verse of this 



138 CHIPS FROM THE ^^TIITE HOUSE. 

fifteenth chapter of Corinthians : " O death, whero 
is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?" 
From these materials, upon a suggestion and at 
the request of Steele, Po})e wrote this truly se- 
raphic song, to be set to music. In comparing it 
with the lines of Hadrian, I see the eflect of the 
Christian doctrines upon "the idea of death. Pope 
contends that there is nothing trilling, or even gay, 
in the lines of Hadrian ; ])ut his imagination leads 
his judgment astray. The heathen philosophers 
taught that death was to be met wath indifference, 
and Hadrian attcmjjted to carry this doctrine into 
practice by joking at his own death, w^hile in its 
agonies. Yet the thought of what was to become 
of his soul was grave and serious, and his idea of 
its future state was that of darkness and gloom. 
The character of his lines, therefore, is a singular 
mixture of levity and sadness, the spirit of which 
appears to me to be lost in Pope's translation of 
them, given in a letter to Steele. I set down the 
lines here, with a translation of them as literal and 
as much in their spirit as I can make them. 

Animul.i, vagula, blandula, 
Hospes comesqne corjioris, 
Qua) mine ahibis in loca? 
Pallidula, rigiila, nudula, 
Nee (nt soles) dabis joca! 

Dear, flutterinjr, flattering little soul. 
Partner and inmate of this clay, 



JOHN QUIXCY ADAMS. 139 

Oh, whither art thou now to stroll? 
Pale, shivering, naked, little droll, 
No more thy wonted jokes to play! 

Pope insists that the diminutives are epithets, 
not of levity, but of endearment. They are sig- 
nificant of both, and the repetition of them, with 
the rhyme of "/oc«" and "Joca," in Latin verses 
of that age, decisively marks the merriment of 
afiected indifference. In the process of the cor- 
respondence, Steele desired Pope to make an ode 
as of a cheerful, dying spirit ; that is to say, tlie 
emperor Hadrian's "Animula, vagula," put into 
two or three stanzas for music. This hint was 
Pope's inspiration. He made the cheerful, dying 
spirit a Christian, and cheerful death then became 
the moment of triumphant exultation, and the song 
is, as it were, the song of an angel. 

To A Bereaved Mother. 

Sure to the mansions of the blest. 

When infant innocence ascends, 
Some angel, l;righter than the rest, 

The spotless spirit's flight attends. 
On wings of ecstasy they rise, 

Beyond where worlds material roll, 
Till some fair sister of the skies 

Receives the unpolluted soul. 
That inextinguishable beam. 

With dust united at our birth, 
Sheds a more dim, discolored gleam. 

The more it lingers upon eai'th. 



140 CHIPS FROM THE WinTE HOUSE. 

But when the Lord of mortal breath 

Decrees his bounty to resume. 
And points the silent shaft of death 

Which speeds an infant to tlie tomb, 
No passion fierce, nor low desire, 

Has quenched the radiance of the flame; 
Bacli to its God the living fire 

Reverts, unclouded as it came. 
Fond mourner he that solace thine! 

Let Hope her healing' charm impart, 
And soothe, with melodies divine, 

The anguish of a mother's heart. 

Oil, think! the darlings of thy love, 

Divested of this earthly clod. 
Amid unnumbei-ed saints, above, 

Bask in the bosom of their God. 
O'er thee, with looks of love they bend ; 

For thee tlie Lord of life implore ; 
And oft from sainted bliss descend. 

Thy wounded quiet to restore. 
Then dry, henceforth, the bitter tear; 

Their part and thine inverted see. 
Thou wert their guardian angel here. 

They guardian angels now to thee. 

Eeading further in Walpole's JNIemoirs, or Se- 
cret History of the British Administrations fi'om 
1750 to 1760, I find in them many things that re- 
mind me of the present state of things here. The 
public history of all countries and all ages is but 
a sort of mask richly colored. The interior work- 
ing of the machinery must be foul. There is as 
much mining and counterirdning for power, as 



JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 141 

man}'' fluctuations of friendship and enmity, as 
many attractions and repulsions, bargains, and 
oppositions, narrated in these Memoirs as might 
be told of our own times. Walpole witnessed it 
all as a sharer in the sport, and now tells it to the 
W'Orld as a satirist. And shall not I, too, have a 
tale to tG\\? — Diari/, Nov. 9, 1822. 

[From his Inaugural Address, 1825.] 

Ten years of peace at home and abroad 

have assuaged the animosities of political conten- 
tion, and blended into harmony the most discord- 
ant elements of public opinion. There still re- 
mains one eflbrt of magnanimity, one sacrifice of 
prejudice and passion, to be made by the individ- 
uals throu<2:liout the nation who have heretofore 
followed the standards of political party. It is 
that of discarding every remnant of rancor against 
each other, of embracing as countrj^men and 
friends, and of yielding to talents and virtue alone 
that confidence which in times of contention for 
principle was bestowed only upon those who bore 
the badge of party communion. 

[From an Address at a public dinner in Faneuil Hall in con- 
neclion •svitli the annual examination of the public schools.] 

It was from schools of public instruction insti- 
tuted by our forefathers that the light burst forth. 



142 ClirPS FROM THE WHITE HOUSE. 

It was in the primary schools, it was by the mid- 
nights lamps of Harvard Hall, that were conceived 
and matured, as it was within these hallowed 
walls ihut were first resounded, the accents of that 
independence which is noAv canonized in the 
memory of those by whom it was proclaimed. 

[A representation having been made to President Adams, 
that a certain functionary of the general government was 
using his influence against his re-election, and therefore 
ouglit to be removed, he replied] : 

That gentleman is one of the best officers in the 
public service. I have had occasion to know his 
diligence, exactness, and punctuality. On public 
grounds, therefore, there is no cause of complaint 
against him, and upon no other will I remove him. 
If I cannot administer the government on these 
principles, I am content to go back to Quincy. 

SuNDAV, November 5, 1826. 

Heard Mr. Little from Psalms, cxix. 133. 
. . . Among his quotations from Scripture was 
that of the first seven verses of the fifth chapter 
of Isaiah. — the song of the vine^^ard that brought 
forth wild grapes. In this instance, as in number- 
less others, I was struck with the careless inatten- 
tion of my own mind when reading the Bible. I 
had read the chapter of Isaiah containing this para- 
ble, I dare say, fifty times, and it was altogether 
familiar to my memory ; but I had never perceived 



JOHN QUIXCY ADAMS. 143 

a fiftieth purt of Jts beauty and sul)limity. The 
closing verse of the parable, especially, which 
points the moral of the allegory, speaks with irre- 
sistible energy : " For the vineyard of the Lord of 
hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah 
his pleasant plant : and he looked for judgment, 
but behold oppression ; for righteousness, but be- 
hold a cry." The parallel is pursued no further. 
He had said in the parable how the vineyard 
would be destroyed, and here, after declaring 
what the vineyard was, and w^hat its fruits had 
been, he leaves the conclusion of ruin and destiiic- 
tion to the imagination of the reader. This art of 
selecting ideas to be presented, and of leading the 
mind to that which is not expressed, is among the 
greatest secrets of composition — to make the sup- 
pressed thoughts, like the statues of Brutus and 
Cassius at the funeral of Junia, most resplendent 
because they are not exhibited in the highest effort 
of skill.— Diar-y. Nov. 5, 182G. 

May 6. 

I heard j\Ir. Campbell. . . . His text 

was from Rev. ii. 16: "Repent, or else I will 
come unto thee quickly." jNIr. C. dwelt largely 
and earnestly upon the uniA^ersal depravity of 
mankind. It is a matter of curious speculation to 
me how men of good understanding and reasoning 
faculties can be drilled into the sincere belief of 



144 CHIPS FROM tut: white house. 

these absurdities. The Scripture says that the 
heart is deceitful and desperately Avicked. Tliis is 
certainly true, and is a profound observation upon 
the human character. But the lans^uao^e is lisfura- 
tive. By the heart is meant, in this passage, the 
selfish passions of man. But there is also in man 
a spirit, and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth 
him understanding. It is the duty of man to dis- 
cover the vicious propensities and deceits of his 
heart, to control them. This, with the grace of 
God, a large portion of the human race in 
Christian lands do accomplish. It seems, there- 
fore, to be worse than useless for preachers to de- 
clare that mankind are universally depraved. It 
takes from honest integrity all its honors ; it de- 
grades men in their own estimation. 

Mr. Campbell read a hymn, wliich declared that 
we were more base and brutish than the beasts, — 
a spiritual song of Isaac Watts. "What is the 
meanino: of tliis? If Watts had said this on a 
week-day to any one of his parishioners, would he 
not have knocked him down ? And how can that 
be taught as a solemn truth of rehgion, applicable 
to all mankind, wliich, if said at any other time 
to any one individual, would be punishable as slan- 
der?— Dm/-^, 1827. 

I read also the speech of John Randolph, on re- 
tienchment and refonn, published by himself in a 



JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 145 

pamphlet, with notes. It is, like all his speeches,* 
furrago of commonplace political declamation, mir- 
gled up with a jumble of historical allusions, scraps 
of Latin from the Dictionary of Quotations, and a 
continual stream of malignity to others, and of in- 
flated egotism, mixed in proportions like those of 
the liquor which he now tipples as he speaks in thp 
House, and which he calls toast- water, — about 
one-third brandy and two-thirds water. This is the 
speech in wliich he charges Clay with having conde- 
scended to electioneer with him ; asserts there was a 
combination of Webster and Clay against me, which, 
in a note, he saj's I defeated Jiy causing the votes 
which Mr. Crawford got in the New York Legis- 
lature to be given to him, and thereby securing 
his return to the House, and excluding thereby 
Mr. Clay. This idea of my causing v(>tes of the 
New York Legislature, which I could not ol)tain 
for myself, to be given to Mr. Crawford, is one of 
the most ingenious in the whole pamphlet, and is 
a sample of the materials of which his accusations 
are composed. The rancor of this man's soul 
against me is that which sustains his life, and so it 
is of W. B. Giles, now irovernor of Virijinia. 
The agony of their envy and hatred of me, and 
the hope of effecting my downfall, are their chief 
remaining sources of vitality. The issue of the 
presidential electk)n will kill them by the gratifica- 
tion of their revenge. — Diary, INIarch 11, 1828. 

10 



146 CHIPS FROM THE WHITE HOUSE. 

[Rev.] Mr. Baker made also some inquiries con- 
cerning my religious opinions, and particularly con- 
cerning my ideas of the trinity. I spoke to him as 
fi'eely as I did with the general of the Jesuits at St. 
Petersburg. I told him, in substance, . . . that 
I was not either a Trinitarian or a Unitarian ; that 
I believed the nature of Jesus Christ was super- 
human ; but whether he was God, or only tho 
first of created beings, was not clearly revealed to 
me in the Scriptures. — Diary, March 17, 1828. 

I went to the Presbyterian church to hear Mr. 
Smith, but his place was supplied [by another]. 
His text was from Luke xv. 17 : "And when he 
came to himself he said, How many hired servants 
of my father's have bread enough and to spare, 
and I perish with hunger ! " A commoni)lace of 
Calvinism. The argument was that all uiu-cgen- 
erate sinners were insane, or beside themselves, 
and that conversion was nothing more than a 
return to reason, or coming to themselves. In 
the common affairs of the world, an eloquent ex- 
hortation to the insane to come to himself would 
sooner send the preacher to Bedlam than release 
his hearer from it ; but this is orthodox Calvin- 
ism, and our pulpit orator urged us all, with 
great and anxious earnestness, to come to our- 
selves. — Diary, March 20, 1831. 



JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 147 

Mr. jNIunroe is a very remarkable instance of a 
man whose life has been a continued series of the 
most extraordinary good fortune, who has never 
met with any known disaster, has gone through a 
splendid career of pubhc service, has received 
more pecuniary reward from the pul)lic than any 
other man since the existence of the nation, and is 
now dying, at the age of seventy-two, in Avretch- 
edness and beggary. I sat with him perhaps half 
an hour. He spoke of the commotions now dis- 
turl)ing Europe, and of the recent quasi revolution 
at Washino;ton ; l)ut his voice was so feeble that 
he seemed exhausted b}^ the exertion of speaking. 
I did not protract ni}^ visit, and took leave of him, 
in all probal)ility, for the last time. — Diary, New 
York, April 27^ 1831. 

His [President Monroe's] Ufe for the last six years 
has 1)een one of abject penury and distress, and they 
have brought him to a premature graAe, though in 
the seventy-third year of his age. His administra- 
tion, happening precisely at the moment of the 
breaking up of old party divisions, was the period 
of the greatest tranquillity wliich has ever been en- 
joyed by this country ; it was a time of great 
prosperity, and liis personal popularity was un- 
rivalled. Yet no one regretted the termination of 
his administration, and less of popular veneration 
followed him into retirement than had accompanied 



148 CHIPS FROM THE W^IITE HOUSE. 

all his predecessors. His last days have been much 
afflicted, contrasting deeply Avitli the triumphal pro- 
cession which he made through the Union in 1817 
and 1819. — Diary, Washington, July 4, 1831. 

In the primitive principles of the parties, the 
Federalists were disposed to consider the first 
principle of society to be the preservation of 
order ; while their opponents viewed the benefit 
above all others in the enjoyment of liberty. — 
Eulogy of President Monroe, August 25, 1831. 

[From an Oration on the Life and Character of Lafayette, 

1831.] 

Let us observe the influence of political 

institutions over the destinies and the characters of 
men. Georo-e the Second was a German Prince : 
he had been made king of the British Islands by 
the accident of his birth ; that is to say, because 
his crcat-OTandmother had been the dauij-hter of 
James the First ; that great-grandmother had been 
married to the king of Bohemia, and her 3'oungcst 
dauo-hter had been married to the Elector of Hanover. 
George the Second's father was her son, and, Avhen 
James the Second had been expelled from his throne 
and bis country by the indignation of his people, 
revolted against his tyranny, and when his two 
daughters, who succeeded him, had died without 
issue, George the First, the son of the Electress of 



JOHN QUIXCY ADAMS. 149 

Hanover, became king of Great Britain, by the 
settlement of an act of Parliament, blending to- 
gether the principle of hereditary succession with 
that of Reformed Protestant Christianity, and the 
rites of the Church of England. 

The throne of France was occupied by virtue of 
the same principle of hereditary succession, differ- 
ently modified, and blended with the Christianity 
of the Church of Home. From this line of suc- 
cession all females w^ere inflexibly excluded. 
Louis the Fifteenth, at the age of six years, had 
become the absolute sovereign of France, because 
he was the great-grandson of his immediate pred- 
ecessor. He was of the third generation in de- 
scent from the preceding king, and, by the law 
of primogeniture, engrafted upon that of lineal suc- 
cession, did, by the death of his ancestor, forthwith 
succeed, though in childhood, to an absolute throne, 
in preference to numerous descendants from that 
same ancestor then in the full vio-or of manhood. 

The first reflection that must occur to a rational 
being, in contemplating these two results of the 
principle of hereditary succession, is, that two 
persons more unfit to occupy the thrones of Brit- 
ain and of France, at the time of their respective 
accessions, could scarcely have been found upon 
the face of the glolje. George the Second, a for- 
eigner, the son and grandson of foreigners, born 
beyond the seas, educated in uncongenial manners, 



150 CHIPS FROM THE "VVmTE HOUSE. 

ignorant of the Constitution, of the Laws, even of 
the language of the peoi)le over whom he was to 
rule ; and Louis the Fifteenth, an infant, incapable 
of discernino; his rio^ht hand from his left. Yet 
strange as it may sound to the ear of unsophisti- 
cated reason, the British nation were wedded to 
the belief that this act of settlement, fixing their 
crown upon the heads of this succession of total 
strangers, was the brightest and most glorious 
exemplification of their national freedom ; and not 
less strange, if aught in the imperfection of 
human reason could seem strange, was that deep 
conviction of the French people, at the same 
period, that their chief glory and happiness con- 
sisted in the vehemence of their affection for their 
king, because he was descended in an unbroken 
male line of genealogy from Saint Louis. 

Among the dark spots in human nature, Avhich 
in the course of my life I have observed, the de- 
vices of rivals to ruin me have been sorry pictures 
of the heart of man. They first exhibited them- 
selves at college, but in the short time that I was 
there their operation could not be of much efiect. 
But from the day that I quitted the walls of Harvard, 
H. G. Otis, Theophilus Parsons, Timothy Picker- 
ing, James A. Bayard, Henry Clay, Jonathan 
Russell, William H. Crawford, John C. Calhoun, 
Andrew Jackson, Daniel Webster, and John Da- 



JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 151 

vis, W. B. Giles, and John liandolph, liave used 
up their faculties in base and dirty tricks to thwart 
my progress in life, and destroy my character. 
Others have acted as instruments to these, and 
among- these Russell was the most contemptible, 
because he was the mere jackal to Clay. He is 
also the only one of the list whom I have signally 
punished. To almost all the rest I have returned 
good for evil. I have never wronged any one of 
them, and have even neglected too much my self- 
defence against them. — Diary, Washington, Nov. 
23, 1835^ 

There was in the National Intelligencer, this 
morning, an advertisement signed James H. Birch,, 
and Edward Dj^er, auctioneer, headed " Sale of 
Slaves," — a sale at public auction, at four o'clock 
this afternoon, of Dorcas Allen and her two sur- 
viving children, aged about seven and nine years, 
(the other two having been killed by said Dorcas 
in a fit of insanity, as found l)y the jury who lately 
acquitted her). The advertisement further says 
that the said slaves were purchased by Birch, on 
the 22d of August last, of Rezin Orme, warranted 
sound in body and in mind ; that the terms of sale 
will be cash, as said slaves will be sold on account 
of said Rezin Orme, who refuses to retake the 
same and repay the purchase money, and who is 
notitied to attend said sale, and, if he thinks proper, 



152 ciiirs TnoM ti[e white house. 

/ to bid for them, or retake them, as he prefers, upon 
refunding- the monej^ paid and all expenses in- 
curred under the warranty given by him. 

I asked Mr. Frye Avhat tliis advertisement meant, 
lie seemed not to liiie to speak of it, but said the 
woman had been sold witli her children, to be sent 
to the South and separated from her husband ; that 
she had killed two of her children by cutting their 
throats, and cut her own to kill herself, but in that 
had failed ; that she had l)een tried at Alexandria foi 
tlie murder of her children, and acquitted on the 
ground of insanity, and that this sale was now by 
the jnirchaser at the expense of the seller, upon 
the wan-anty that she was sound in body and mind. 

I called at the office of the JSfatio7irfl Intelligencei' 
and saw Mr. Seaton ; inquired of him concerning 
the advertisement. . . . He answered with re- 
luctance, and told me the same story that I had 
heard from Mr. Fr3-e, adding that there was some- 
thing very bad about it, but without telling me 
what it was. 

It is a case of conscience with me whether my 
duty requires or forbids me to pursue the inquiry 
in this case — to ascertain ail the facts, and ex- 
pose them in all their turpitude to the world. The 
prohiliition of the internal slave-trade is within the 
constitutional power of Congress, and, in my 
opinion, i:* among their incumbent duties. I have 
gone as far upon this article, the abolition of 



JOHX QUIXCY ADA3ES. 153 

slavery, as tlie public opinion of the free portion 
of the Union will bear, and so far that scarcely a 
slaveholdi ng member of the House dares to vote 
with me upon any question. I have, as yet, been 
throughly sustained in my own State, but one step 
further and I hazard my own standing and influ- 
ence there, my own final overthrow, and the cause 
of liberty itself for indefinite time, certainly for 
more than my remnant of life. Were there in the 
House one member capalile of taldng the lead in 
this cause of universal emancipation, which is 
moving onward in the world and in this country, I 
would withdraw from the contest, which will rage 
with increasing fury as it draws to its crisis, but 
for the management of which, my age, infirmities, 
and ap[)roaching end, totally disqualify me. There 
is no such man in the House. — Diary, Oct. 23, 
1837. 

[To this he added on the 28th.] 

There was in the JSt^aiional Inielh'f/encej' of this 
morning an advertisement, ao-ain, of the sale of a 
woman and two children, at eleven o'clock. I 
went between cloven and twelve o'clock to tlie 
room. The woman and children, girls of seven 
and nine 3'ears of age, were there, the ^voman 
weeping and Availing most piteously. 1 inquired 
of Dyer if the}' were sold. He snid, no, that they 
had been sold last ^louday, and bought in by the 



154 CHIPS FROM THE WHITE HOUSE. 

husband of the woman, who was free, and a 
waiter at Gadsby's ; he had bought them in for 
four hundred and seventy-five dollars, l)ut was un- 
able to raise the money, Avhich was the reason why 
they were to be sold again. They were waiting 
for the man, who was endeavoring to procure, by 
subscription, upon his own engagement to repay 
the money, the means of paying for his purchase 
last jMonday. [On the loth of November Mr. 
Adams paid fifty dollars towards this object, and 
General Walter Smith, of Georgetown, undertook, 
with the other subscriptions, to pay the whole 
sum and take the bill of sale, liy which the emanci- 
pation was secured.] 

[On presenting wliat professed to be a petition from some 
slaves, in tlae House of Representatives, February 7, 18C7, 
whieli created intense excitement, Mr. Adams said] : 

Sir, it is well known that from the time I entered 
this House down to the present day, I have felt it 
a sacred duty to present any petition couched in 
respectful language, from any citizen of the United 
States, be its object what it may : be the prayer 
of it that in which I could concur, or that to which 
I was utterly opposed. It is for the sacred right 
of petition that I have adopted this coui'se 

Where is your law which says that the mean, 
the low, and the degraded shall be deprived of the 
right of petition — if their moral character la not 



JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 155 

good? Where, in the land of freemen, was the 
right of petition ever placed on the exclusive basis 
of morality and virtue ? Petition is supplication — 
it is entreaty — it is prayer! And where is the 
degree of vice or immorality Avhich shall deprive 
the citizen of the right to supplicate for a boon, or 
to pray for mercy? Where is such a law to be 
found ? It does not belong to the most abject des- 
potism. There is no absolute monarch on earth 
who is not compelled by the Constitution of his 
country to receive the petitions of his people, 
whosoever they may be. The Sultan of Constan- 
tinople cannot walk the streets and refuse to re- 
ceive petitions from the meanest and vilest of the 
land. This is the law even of despotism. And 
what does your law say ? Does it say that before 
presenting a petition you shall look into it, and see 
whether it comes from the virtuous, and the great, 
and the mighty? No, sir, it says no such thing. 
The right of petition belongs to all. And so far 
from refusing to present a petition because it might 
come from those low in the estimation of the world, 
it would be an additional incentive , if such incen« 
live were wanting. 



15G CHITS FROM THE WHITE HOUSE. 

[Speech in the House of Representatives, upon a petition 
from the women of Plymouth, JMass., remonstrating 
against tlie annexation of Texas, as a shxveholding tei'- 
ritorj.] 

June 26, 1838. 

The honorable g-entleman [Mr. Howard] 

considered it " discreditable " not only to the sec- 
tion of country whence these memorials came, but 
discreditable to the nation. Sir, was it from a son 
— was it from a father — was it from a husband, 
that I heard these words? Does the gentleman 
consider that women, by petitioning this House in 
favor of suiicring and distress, perform an office 
" discreditable " to themselves, to the section of 
country where they reside, and to this nation? I 
trust to the good nature of that gentleman that he 
will retract such an assertion. I have a right to 
make this call upon him. It is to the wives and 
to the daughters of my constituents that he applies 
this language. Am I to consider their conduct in 
petitioning this House as a discredit to that section 
of the Union and to their country ? Sir, if there 
is anything in which they could do honor to their 
country, it was in this very act. He says that 
women have no right to petition Congress on polit- 
ical suljjccts. Vi'hy, sir, what does the gentleman 
understand by " political subjects?" Everything 
in which this House has an agency — everything 
which relates to peace and relates to war, or to any 



JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 157 

other of the great interests of societ}', is a politi- 
cal subject. Are women to have no opinions or 
action on subjects relating to the general "\velf\irc ? 
This must be the gentleman's principle. Where 
did he ffet it ? Did he find it in Sacred history ? 
in the account which is given of the emigration of 
a whole nation from the land of Egypt, under the 
guidance of INIoses and Aaron? What was the 
language of jMiriam, the prophetess, when, after 
one of the noblest and most sublime songs of tri- 
umph that ever met the human eye or ear, it is 
said : 

"And Miriam, the prophetess, the sister of 
Aaron, took a timbrel in her hand; and all the 
women went out after her with timbrels and with 
dances. And ]\Iiriam answered them. Sing ye to 
the Lord, for he hath triumphed gloriously ; the 
horse and his rider hath he throAvn into the sea." 

Sir, is it in that portion of sacred history that 
he finds the principle that it is improper for women 
to take any concern in public affairs ? This hap- 
pened in the infancy of the Jewish nation. But 
has the gentleman never read or heard read the 
account which is given, at a later period, of the 
victory of Deborah? 

" And Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of lja])i- 
doth, she judged Israel at that time. And she 
dwelt under the palm-tree of Deborah, between 
Raniali and Bethel, in INIount Ephraim ; and tho 
children of Israel came to her iov judgment." 



158 CHIPS FROM THE WHITE HOUSE. 

Has he never read that inspiring cry ; 

" Awake, awake, Deborah ; awake, awake, utter 
a song; arise Barak, and lead thy captivity cap- 
tive, thou son of Abinoam." 

Is the principle recognized here that women 
have nothing to do with political afiairs? — no, 
not so much as even to petition in regard to them ? 
Has he forgotten the deed of Jael, who slew the 
dreaded enemy of her country, who had so often 
invaded and ravaged it? Has he forgotten the 
name of Esther, who, by a petition, saved her 
people and her country? . . . Sir, I might go 
through the whole of the Sacred history of the 
Jews, down to the advent of our Saviour, and lind 
innumerable examples of women who not only 
took an active part in the politics of their times, 
but who are held up with honor to jiosterit}^ be- 
cause they did so. I might point him to the 
names of Abigail, of Huldah, of Judith, the 
beautiful widow of Bethuha, who, in the da^^s of 
the ca}itivity, slew Holofernes, the commanding- 
general of the King of Babylon. But let me 
come down to a happier age under the dispen- 
sation of the new covenant. . . . But now, to 
leave sacred history and go to profane history. 
Does the chairman of the Committee find there 
that it is " discreditable " for women to take any 
interest or any part in political affairs ? Let him 
read the history of Greece. Let hun examine the 



JOHN QUIXCY ADAMS. 159 

character of Aspasia, and this in a country where 
the conduct and freedom of women were more se- 
verel}^ restricted than in any modern nation, save 
amon£»- the Turks. It was in Athens, where female 
character had not that full development which is 
permitted to it in our state of society. . . . Can 
be have forgotten the innumerable instances re- 
corded by the profane historians, where women 
distinguished, nay, immortalized their names, by 
the part they took in the affairs of their country ? 

Why does it follow that women are 

fitted for nothing but the cares of domestic life? 
for bearins: children and cookins; the food of a 
family ? devoting all their time to the domestic cir- 
cle, to promoting the immediate personal comfort 
of their husbands, brothers, and sons ? Observe, 
sir, the point of departure between the chairman 
of the committee and myself. I admit that it is 
their duty to attend to these things. I subscribe 
fully to the elegant compliment passed by him 
upon those members of the female sex who devote 
their time to these duties. But I say that the 
correct principle is, that women are not only jus- 
tified, but exhibit the most exalted vii'tue when 
they do depart from the domestic circle, and enter 
on the concerns of their country, of humanity, and 
of their God. The mere departure of woman 
from the duties of the domestic circle, far from 
being a reproach to her, is a virtue of the highest 



160 CHIPS FlIOM THE AVHITE HOUSE. 

order, when it is done from purity of motive, bv 
appropriate means, and towards a virtuous pur- 
pose. There is the true distinction. Tlie motive 
must be pure, tiie means appropriate, and the pur- 
pose good. And I say that woman, by the dis- 
charge of such duties, has manifested a virtue 
which is even al)ove the virtues of mankind, and 
approaches to a superior nature. 

[Speech in the House of Rejiresentatives, 1838] 

I am well aware of the change which is taking 
place in the moral and political philosophj^ of the 
South. I know well that the doctrine of the Dec- 
laration of Independence, that ^' all men are born 
free and equal," is there held as incendiary doc- 
trine, and deserves Lynching ; that the Declara- 
tion itself is a farrago of abstractions. I know all 
this perfectly ; and that is the very reason that I 
want to put my foot upon such doctrine ; that I want 
to drive it back to its fountain, — its corrupt foun- 
tain, — and pursue it till it is made to disappear 
from this land and from the world. Sir, this phi- 
losophy of the South has done more to blacken the 
character of this country in Europe than all other 
causes put together. They point to us as a nation 
of liars and hypocrites, who publish to the Avorld 
that all men arc born free and equal, and then hold 
a large portion of our own population in ))ondage. 

But 1 ha\e been drawn into obijervations which 



JOHN QUIXCY ADAMS. IGl 

arc, here, xery much out of pla(e; and which I 
probabl}'^ should not have made, and certainly not 
with the force I have endeavored to give them, 
had it not been for the interruption cf the irentle- 
man from South Carolina.* If he %\ill put .such 
questions he must expect to receive answers cor- 
responding to them ; and he will receive not only 
my answer, but thos^e of others, Vvho are far 
deeper thinkers than I, not only in this country 
but abroad ; for this debate will go on the wings 
of the wind. The account of the gentleman's prin- 
ciples will come back from all parts of Europe and 
of the civilized world in hisses and execrations 
that a man should have been found, in the highest 
legislative body of this free republic, to avow 
opinions such as wc have just heard from the lips 
of that gentleman. I shall dismiss that branch of 
the subject now. If the gentleman is desirous of 
more ; if he wishes to enter into a full and strict 
scrutiny of the question of slavery in all its bear- 
ings, cither at this session or the next, and God 
shall give mc life, and breath, and the faculty of 
speech, he shall have it to his heart's content. 

* Mr. Ciimpbell had said, amoii;r Dthor remarks, that 
*' mail}' woilhy men, who were, foinjerly somewhat uneasy 
at the existence of this institution, now fei'l themselves 
call'-d U])on by every motive, personal and private;, l^y v.very 
coii^ideration, jniblie, and patriotie, to guard it with the must 
jealous watehfiilness, — to defend it at eveiy hazard." 
u 



162 CHIPS FROM THE AVIHTE HOUSE. 

[From the same Sjjeech.] 

The Declaration of Independence, "which united 
the people of thirteen separate and independent 
states into one, speaks from the beginning to the 
end in the name of the people. ... I pass on to 
the Constitution of the United States. . . . The 
very first words were such as put the People in 
action ; they declare that it is the act of one People 
"who have separated themselves from another, and 
have agreed to frame for themselves this Consti- 
tution of Government. 

I shall not enter on the captious quibbling 
whether the Peojile voted man by man, through- 
out the Union, or whether they voted by their rep- 
resentatives in special conventions assembled in 
each of the states separately. It is not necessary 
to settle any such questions. These are the cob- 
web threads of justification, all spun from the 
bowels of slavery. The language of the whole 
instrument is, " We, the People." It has, from 
the beginning, been the government of " us, the 
People," and will, I tnist, l)e that of posterity. 

The conflict between the principle of libertj^ and 
the fact of slavery is coming gradually to an issue. 
Slavery has now the power, and falls into convul- 
sions at the approach of freedom. That the fall 
of slavery is predetennined in the counsels of 
Omnipotence, I cannot doubt ; it is a part of the 
great moral improvement in the condition of man, 



JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 163 

attested by all the records of liistory. But the 
conflict will be terrible, and the progress of im- 
provement perhaps retrograde before its final 
progress to consummation. — Didrij, December 
13, 1838. 

On December 20th, 1838, in the House of Rep- 
resentatives, ]\ir. Adams presented a petition for 
the establishment of international relations with 
the Repubhc of Hayti, and said : . . . Then, sir, 
I come back to my position, that every man in 
this country has a right to be an abolitionist, and 
that in being so he otfends no law, but, in my 
opinion, obeys the most sacred of all laws. 

[In 1832, South Carolina passed an ordinance 
declaring the tariff laws " null and void," and that 
the State would secede from the Union if force 
should be employed to collect any revenue at 
Charleston ; upon which President Jackson issued 
a Proclamation denouncing "nullification," and 
declaring his purpose to execute the laws. It was 
in December of this year, that JNIr. Adams wrote 
in his Diary] : " I told Hoffman that the real ques- 
tion now convulsing this Union was, whether a 
population spread over an immense territory, con- 
sisting of one great division, all freemen, and an- 
other, of masters and slaves, could exist perma- 
nently together as members of one community or 



164 criirs n:oM the aviiite house. 

not ; tnat, to go a step further back, the question 
at issue was slavery." 

I do believe slavery to be a sin before God. — 
/Speech in the House of Representatioes, 1838. 

It is among the evils of slavery, that it taints 
the very sources of moral principle. It estab- 
lishes false estimates of Anrtuc and vice : for what 
can be more false and more heartless than this 
doctrine, which makes the first and holiest rights 
of humanity to depend upon the color of the skin ? 
It perverts human reason, and induces men en- 
dowed with logical powers to maintain that slavery 
is sanctioned hy the Christian religion ; that slaves 
are happy and contented in their condition ; that 
between master and slave there are ties of mutual 
attachment and affection ; that the virtues of the 
master are refined and exalted by the degradation 
of the slave, while, at the same time, they vent 
execrations ui)on the slave-trade, curse Britain 
for having given them slaves, burn at the stake 
negroes con\ictcd of crimes, for the terror of the 
example, and writhe in agonies of fear at the very 
mention of human rights as applicable to men of 
color. — Diarij. 

[From the Introduction to the Memoir of Elijah P. Lovojoy, 
1838.] 

In the biographical narratives of the Founder 
of the Christian religion, and of his primitive dis- 



JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 165 

ciples, there is an internal evidence of truth, not 
less conclusive than that of the miracles which 
they performed. The miracles were the evidence 
necessary to prove the authenticity of his mission 
to his contemporaries, to whom he was accredited, 
to whom he revealed the hidden mystery of their 
owai immortality, and to whom he proclaimed the 
laws of their own nature, the obligations of mutual 
benevolence and charity : — love upon earth and life 
hereafter were the everlasting pillars of his system 

of religion and of morals 

In the progressive revolutions effected by the 
Christian system of religion and morals, it was in 
the order of Providence that its operations should 
be slow and gradual, embracing a period of many 
thousand years. ... In these doctrines [of uni- 
versal love and eternal life] , however, there was a 
principle of vitality destined to survive all persecu- 
tion, and to triumph over all human power. The 
moral precepts of the Levitical law, purified and 
retined, shone with undying lustre in the new dispen- 
sation, — its rites and ceremonies, its priests and 
Levites, its sacrifices of blood, its visions, and its 
dreams, gave way to a simple and sjiiritual form of 
worship ; the working of miracles, no longer neces- 
sary for the authentication of faith, was withdraAvn 
from the disciples of the cross, and the new sys- 
tem of religion and morals was left to make its 
way in the w^orld by the perpetual miracle of its 



166 CHIPS FROM THE WHITE HOUSE. 

celestial origin, self-evident by the internal dem- 
onstration of its iiTcsistible power and its super- 
human perfection. 

[On the opening of the 26th Congress, De- 
cember, 1839, there being a twofold delegation 
from New Jersey, the clerk, on reaching that 
State, refused to proceed with calling the roll, and 
the members could effect no organization. It was 
so for three days. On the fourth da}', when the 
State of New Jersey was reached,* Mr. Adams 
rose and said] : "I rise to interrupt the clerk," — • 
which created an intense excitement. " It was not 
my intention to take any part in these extraordi- 
nary proceedings. I had hoped that this House 
would succeed in organizing itself ; that a Speaker 

* On December 2, 1839, nt the opening of the 26th 
Congress, the clerk commenced calling the roll of mem- 
bers. When he came to New Jersey, (whose members 
were then elected by general ticket,) he stated that the 
seats of live of the six members from that state were con- 
tested : that he did not feel authorized to decide the ques- 
tion of their right to their seats, and tliat he should there- 
fore pass over their names, and proceed with the call The 
election of these members was certified to by the governor 
of New Jersey. It so happened that these five m<imber3 
wci'e all whigs. Parties wei'e so evenly balanced in the 
House, that if these five members were admitted at once, 
it would give the whigs control of its oi'ganization, includ- 
ing the election of Speaker. — Appleton's New Amer. Cyclop., 
Art. Fillmore. 



JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 167 

and Clerk would be elected, and the ordinary 
business of legislation would go on. This is not 
the time or place to discuss the merits of the con- 
flicting claimants for seats from New Jersey ; the 
subject belongs to the House of Representatives, 
which, by the Constitution, is made the ultimate 
arbiter of the qualifications of its members. But 
what a spectacle we here present ! We degrade 
and disgrace ourselves ; we degrade and disgrace 
our constituents and the country. We do not, 
and cannot organize ; and why ? Because the 
clerk of this house, the mere clerk, whom we create, 
whom we employ, and whose existence depends 
upon our will, usurps the throne, and sets us, the 
Representatives, the vicegerents of the whole 
American people, at defiance, and holds us in con- 
tempt. And what is this clerk of yours ? Is he 
to control the destinies of sixteen millions of free- 
men? Is he to suspend, by his mere negative, 
the functions of government, and put an end to 
this Cono-ress ? He refuses to call the roll ! It is 
in your power to compel him to call it, if he will 
not do it voluntarily. [A member here said that 
he was authorized to say that the clerk would 
resign rather than call the roll of New Jersey.] 
Well, sir, then let him resign, and we may pos- 
sibly discover some way by which we can get 
along without the aid of his all-powerful talent, 
learning, and genius. If we cannot organize in 



IGS cnips rr>o?.i the white house. 

any other way — if this clerk of yours will not 
consent to our discharinno- the trusts confided to 
us by our constituents, then let us imitate the ex- 
ample of the Virginia House of Burgesses, which, 
when the colonial governor, Dinwiddie, ordered it 
to disperse, refused to obey the imperious and 
insulting mandate, and, like men — [here followed 
a burst of enthusiasm, when i\Ir. Adams sub- 
mitted a motion requiring the acting clerk to pro- 
ceed in calling the roll. Many members inquiring, 
" How shall the question l)e put?" "AVho will put 
the question?" Mr. Adams rephed, " / /^^enc/ to 
put the question myself f' Whereupon Mr. Rhett, 
of South Carolina, exclaimed, "I move that the 
Hon. John Quincy Adams take the chair of the 
Speaker of this House, and officiate as presiding 
officer till the House be organized l)y the election 
of its constitutional officei's. As many as agree to 
this will say. Aye; those — " which was followed 
by an universal shout of Aye. And order came 
out of confusion."] 

[A "gag-laAv," forbidding the presentation of 
petitions on the subject of slavery, having passed 
the House of llepresentatives, i\Ir. Adams, at the 
commencement of each subsequent session, de- 
manded its abolition, and continued to hand in 
petitions as before. He was threatened with ex- 
pulsion, assassination, and indictment before the 



JOHN QUIXCY ADAMS. 1G9 

grand jury of the District of Columbia. On one 
occasion he said] : 

Do the gentlemen from the South think they 
can frighten me by their threats ? If that be their 
object, let me tell them, sir, they have mistaken 
their man. I am not to be frightened fi(j:ii the 
discharge of a sacred duty by their indignation, 
by their violence, nor, sir, by all the grand juries 
in the universe. I have done only my duty ; and 
I shall do it again under the same circumstances, 
even though they recur to-morrow. 

[When, in the year 1845, the "gag-law" was re- 
scinded, Mr. Adams exclaimed] : " God be praised ; 
the seals are broken, the door is open." 

[In an address at Pittsfield, Mass, in 1843, he 
said] : In 1775 the minute-men from a hundred 
towns in the province were marching at a moment's 
warning to the scene of opening war. Many of 
them called at my father's house in Quincy, and 
received the hospitality of John Adams. All were 
lodged in the house whom the house would con- 
tain ; others in the barns, and wherever they could 
find a place. There were then in ni}' father's kitchen 
some dozen or two of pewter spoons ; and I well 
recall going into the Idtchen and seeing some of 
the men engaged in running those spoons into bul- 
lets for the use of the troops ! Do you wonder 



170 CHIPS FROM TIIE "WHITE HOUSE. 

that a boy of seven years of age, who -witnessed 
this scene, should be a patriot? 

The influence of ]\Ir. Jefferson over 

the mind of Mr. Madison was composed of all that 
genius, talent, experience, splendid public ser- 
vices, exalted reputation, added to congenial tem- 
per, undivided friendship, and habitual sympathies 
of interest and of feeling could inspire. Among the 
numerous blessings which it was the rare good 
fortune of Mr. Jefierson's life to enjo}", was that 
of the uninterrupted, disinterested, and eflicient 
friendship of Madison. But it was the friendship 
of a mind not inferior in capacity, and tempered 
with a calmer sensibility and a cooler judgment 
than his own. — Eulogy on President Madison. 

A confederation is not a country. There is no 
magnet of attraction in any league of sovereign 
and independent states which causes the heart- 
strino-s of the individual man to vibrate in unison 
with those of his neighbor. Confederates are not 
countrymen. — Eulogy on President Madison. 

The Declaration of Independence annulled the 
national character of the American people. That 
character had been common to them all as subjects 
of one and the same sovereign, and that sovereign 
was a king. The dissolution of tliat tie was pro- 



JOHN QUIXCY ADAMS. 171 

nounced hy one act common to them all, and it 
left them as members of distinct communities in 
the relation towards each other, bound only by the 
obligations of the law of nature and of the Union, 
b}^ which they had renounced their connection 
with the mother country. 

But what was to be the character of their 
national existence? This was the problem of 
difficult solution for them ; and this was the 
opening of the new era in the science of govern- 
ment, and in the history of mankind. — Eulogy on 
President Madison. 

[From the same.] 

The principle that religious opinions 

are altogether beyond the sphere of legislative 
control is but one modification of a more exten- 
sive axiom, w^hich includes the unlimited freedom 
of the press, of speech, and of the communication 
of thought in all its forms. 

[From the same.] 

In most of the inspirations of genius there is 
a simplicity which, when they are familiarized 
to the general understanding of men by their 
effects, detracts from the opinion of their gi'eat- 
ness. That the jjeople of the British colonies, 
who, by their united counsels and energies, had 
achieved their independence, should continue to be 



172 CHIPS FROM THE WHITE HOUSE. 

one people, and constitute a nation under the form 
of one organized o'overnraent, was an idea in itself 
so simple, and addressed itself at once so forcibly 
to the reason, to the imagination, and to the 
benevolent feelings of all, that it can scarcely be 
supposed to have escaped the mind of any rcflect- 
ino^ man from Maine to Georo'ia. It was the die- 
tate of nature. But no sooner was it conceived 
than it was met by obstacles innumerable and in- 
superable to the general mass of mankind. They 
resulted from the existing social institutions, di- 
versihed among the parties to the projected na- 
tional union, and seeming to render it impractica- 
ble. There were chartered rights, for the main- 
tenance of which the war of the revolution itself 
had first been wao-ed. There were state sovereign- 
ties, corporate feudal baronies, tenacious of their 
own liberty, impatient of a superior, and jealous and 
disdainful of a paramount sovereign, even in the 
whole democracy of the nation. There were colli- 
sions of boundary and of proprietary right west- 
ward in the soil ; southward, in its cultivator. In 
fine, the diversities of interests, of opinions, of man- 
ners, of habits, and even of extraction, were so 
great, that the plan of constituting them one peo- 
ple appears not even to have occurred to any of 
the members of the convention * before they were 

* For formino: new Constitution. 



JOIIN QUINCY ADAMS. 173 

assembled together. . . . Nearly four months of 
anxious delii)eration were employed by an assem- 
bly composed of the men who had been the most 
distinguished for their services, civil and military, 
in conducting the country through the arduous 
struggles of the revolution ; of men who, to the 
fire of genius, added all the lights of experience, 
and w ere stimulated hy the impulses at once of 
ardent patriotism and of individual ambition 
aspiring to that last and most arduous labor of 
constituting a nation destined in after times to 
present a model of government for all the civil- 
ized nations of the earth 

[From the same.] 

Government, in the first and most obvious 
aspect which it assumes, is a restraint upon hu- 
man action, and, as such, a restraint upon liberty. 
The ci)nstitution of the United States w^as intended 
to be a government of great energy, and, of 
course, of extensive restriction, not only upon in- 
dividual lil)erty, but upon the corporate action of 
states claiming to be sovereign and independent. 
The conA'cntion had been aware that such restraints 
upon the people could be imposed l)y no earthly 
power other than the people themselves. They 
were aware that to induce the peoi)lc to impose 
upon themselves such binding ligaments, motives 
not less coo-ent than those which form the basis of 



174 CHIPS FROM THE WHITE HOUSE. 

human association "svere indispensably necessary ; 
that the first principles of politics must l)e inclis- 
solubly linked with the first princiiDles of morals. 
They assumed, therefore, the existence of a Peo- 
ple of the United States, and made them declare 
the constitution to be their own work, speaking 
in the first person, and saying. We, the People of 
the United States, do ordain and establish this 
constitution for the United States of America ; 
and then the allegation of motives, to form a more 
perfect union, to establish justice, insure domestic 
tranquillity, provide for the common defence, pro- 
mote the general welfare, and secure the blessings 
of liberty to ourselves and our posterity. These 
are precisely the purposes for which it has pleased 
the Author of nature to make man a social being, 
and has Ijlended into one his happiness with that 
of his kind. 

How much of the South Carolina character origi- 
nated in Locke's Constitution ? How much in the 
sub-tropical climate? How much in the cultivation 
of indigo, rice, and cotton? How much (more 
than ail the rest) in negro slavery? How much 
in the Christian religion? And how much in 
Anglo-Saxon descent? These elements, mixed 
w ith the casual diversities of individual men in the 
progress of population, have produced an average 
associate character different from that of any other 



JOHN QUINCT ADAMS. 175 

state in the Union — from none more than from 
that of its next-door neighbour, North Carolina. 
This character shows itself everywhere — in the 
city, in the field, by the family fireside, in the 
social circle, at the bar, in the legislative hall, and 
finally in the pulpit. — Diary ^ May, 1840. 



176 CHIPS FROM TIIE WTIITE HOUSE. 



ANDREAV^ JACKSOX. 

BOEN, 1767; DIED, 1845, AGED 78.— BEGAN PRACTICE OF LAW, 
1786. — SOLICITOIl OF TIIE WESTERN DISTRICT OF N. CAR^ 
OLINA, 178.S. — DISTRICT ATTORNEY OF TEN'NESSEE, 1796.— 
aiEMDER OF CONVENTION TO FRAME A CONSTITUTION FOR 
TENNESSEE, 17C;(i. — EEPEESENTATI\Ti: IN CONGRESS, 1706. 

— UNITED STATES SENATOR, 1797. — JUSTICE IN THE SU- 
PRE:\IE COURT OF TENNESSEE, 1798. — ENGAGED IN THE 
CREEK WAR, 1813, 1814. — SLAJOR-GENERAL IN TIIE UNITED 
STATES ARMY, 1814. — COMSEiNDER AT NEW ORLEANS, 1815. 

— COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF OF THE SOUTHERN DmSION OF 
THE U. S., 1815- ENGAGED IN THE SEMINOLE WAR, 1817. 

— GOVERNOR OF FLORIDA, 1829.- UNITED STATES SENATOR, 
1823, — PRESIDENT, 1829-1837. 

[From a Message to Congress, December, 1831.] 

[Atter a review of our foreign relations, the 
President said] : "I have great satisfaction in mak- 
ing this statement of our afiairs, because the course 
of our national policy enal)les me to do it without 
any indiscreet exposure of what in other govern- 
ments is usually concealed from the people. Hav- 
ing none but a straightforward, open course to 
pursue, — guided by a single i)rinciplc that will 
bear the strongest light, — we have happily no 
political combinations to form, no alliance to en- 
tangle us, no complicated interests to consult; and 
in sul^jecting all that we luive done to the con- 



ANDREW JACKSON. 177 

sideration of our citizens, and to the inspection of 
the world, we give no advantage to other nations, 
and lay ourselves open to no injurj'. 

[From a Message to Congress, July 10, 1832.] 
The Congress, the Executive, and the [Supreme] 
Court must each for itself be guided by its own 
opinion of the Constitution. Each pubhc ofliccr, 
who takes an oath to sup})ort the Constitution, 
swears that he will support it as as he understands 
it, and not a3 it is understood 1)V others. It is as 
much the duty of the House of Ecprescntatives, 
of the Senate, and of the President to decide upon 
the constitutionality of any l)i]l or resolution which 
may be presented to them for passage or approval, 
as it is of the Supreme Judges, when it may be 
brought before them for judicial decision. The 
opinion of the judges has no more authority over 
Congress, than the opinion of Congress has over 
the judges, and on that point the President is 
independent of both. 

It is to be regretted that the rich and powerful 
too often bend the acts of government to their self- 
ish purposes. Distinctions in society will always 
exist under every just government. Equality of 
•'alents, of education, oi* of wealth, cannot be pro- 
duced l)y human institutions. In the full enjoy- 
pient of the gifts of Heaven and the fruits of 



178 CHIPS FROM THE WHITE HOUSE. 

superior industry, economy, and virtue, every man 
is equally entitled to protection by law. But when 
the laws undertake to add to these natural and just 
advantages artificial distinctions, to .grant titles, 
gratuities, and exclusive privileges — to make the 
rich richer and the potent more poAverful — the 
humble members of society — the farmers, me- 
chanics, and laborers, who have neither the time 
nor the means of securing like favors to them- 
selves, have a right to complain of the injustice of 
their government. There are no necessary evils 
in government. Its evils exist only in its abuses. 
If it would confine itself to equal protection, and, 
as Heaven does its rains, shower its favors alike on 
the high and the low, the rich and the poor, it 
would be an unqualified blessing. 

[Letter to Col. A. J. Hamilton.I 

Washington, November 2, 1832. 

My dear Sir : I have just received your letter 
of the 3 1st ult., with the enclosure, for which I 
thank you. 

I am well advised of the views and proceedings 
of the great leading nullifiers of the South in my 
native State (South Carolina) , and weep for its 
fate, and over the delusion into which the people 
are led by the Avickedness, ambition, and folly of 
their leaders. I have no doubt of the intention 
of their leaders to alarm the other States to submit 



ANDREW JACKSON. 179 

to their views rather than a dissohition of the 
Union should take place. If they fail in this, to 
cover their own disgrace and wickedness, to nullify 
the tariff, and secede from the Union. 

AVe are wide awake here. The Union will be 
preserved, rest assured of this. There has been 
too much blood and treasure shed to obtain it, to 
let it be surrendered without a struggle. Our 
liberty and that of the whole world rests upon it, 
as well as the peace, prosperity, and happiness of 
these United States. It must be perpetuated. 

[Letter to Col. J. A. Hamilton.] 

Washington, December 6, 1832. 

Yours of the 3d inst. is just received. I accord 
with you fully in the propriety of the people giv- 
ing fully and freely their sentiments and opinions 
on nullification, and the course pursued by South 
Carolina in her late proceedings. 

The ordinance passed, when taken in connection 
with the Governor's message, is rebellion and war 
against the Union. The raising of troops under 
them to resist the laws of the United States is 
absolute treason. The crisis must be, and as far 
as my constitutional and legal powers go, will be 
met Avith energy and finnness. Therefore the pro- 
pi'iety of the public voice being heard, and it ought 
now to be spoken in a \o\ce of thunder that will 
make the leaders of the nuUifiers tremble, and 



180 CHIPS FROM THE -WHITE HOUSE. 

which will cause the good citizens of South Caro- 
lina to retrace their steps and adhere to that con- 
stitution of perpetual union they have sworn to 
support. This treasonable procedure against the 
Union is a blow against not only our liberties Init 
the liberties of the world. 

This nullifying movement in the South has done 
no great injury abroad, and must not only be 
promptly met and put down, but frowned down 
by public opinion. It is therefore highly proper 
for the people to speak all over the Union. I am 
preparing a proclamation to the people of the 
South, and as soon as officially advised of these 
rebellious proceedings, will make a communication 
to Congress. 

[From a Message to Congi*ess, January 16, 1833.] 

A recent proclamation of the present 

Governor of South Carolina has openly detied the 
authority of the Executive of the Union, and gen- 
eral orders from the head-quarters of the State 
announced his determination to accept the services 
of volunteers, and his belief that, should their 
country need their services, they will be found at 
the post of honor and duty, read}^ to lay down 
their lives in lier defence. Under these orders, the 
forces referred to are directed to " hold themselves 
in readiness to take the field at a moment's warn- 
ing ; and in tlie cit}^ of Charleston, within a colleo- 



ANDREW JACKSON. 181 

tion district and a port of eutiy, a rendezvous has 
been opened for the par})oso of enlisting men for 
the magazine and municipal guard. Thus South 
Carolina presents herself in the attitude of hostile 
preparation, ^uid ready even for military violence, 
if need be, to enforce her laAvs for preventing the 
collection of the duties within her limits 

It therefore becomes my duty to bring the sub- 
ject to the serious consideration of Congress, in 
order that such measures as they, in their wisdom, 
may deem fit, shall be seasonably provided ; and 
that it may he therel)y understood that, while the 
government is disposed to remove all just cause of 
complaint, so far as may be practicably consistent 
with a proper regard to the interests of the com- 
munity at large, it is nevertheless determined that 
the supremacy of the laws shall l)e maintained. . . . 

By these various proceedings the State of South 
Carolina has forced the general government, un- 
avoidably, to decide the new and dangerous alter- 
native of permitting a State to obstruct the execu- 
tion of the laws within its limits, or seeing it able 
to execute a threat of withdrawins: from the Union. 
That portion of the people at present exercising 
the authority of the State solemnly assert their 
right to do either, and as solemnly announce their 
determination to do one or the other. 

In my opinion both purposes are to be regarded 
as revolutionary in their character and tendency, 



182 CHIPS FROM THE AVHITE HOUSE. 

and subversive of the siiprcniacy of the Constitu- 
tion and of the integrity of the Union. The result 
of each is the same ; since a State, in which, by an 
usurpation of power, tlie constitutional authority 
of the Federal government is openly defied and set 
aside, wants only the form to be independent of the 
Union. 

The right of the people of a single State to ab- 
solve themselves at will, and without the consent 
of other States, from their most solemn obligations, 
and hazard the liberties and happiness of the mil- 
lions composing the Union, cannot be acknowl- 
edged. Such authority is believed to ])e utterly 
repugnant both to the principles u[)on which the 
General Government is constructed, and to the ob- 
jects which it is expressly formed to attain. 

Against all acts which may be alleged to tran- 
scend the constitutional power of the government, 
or which may be inconvenient and oppressive in 
their operation, the Constitution itself has pre- 
scribed the modes of redress. It is the acknowl- 
edged attribute of free institutions that, under 
them, the empire of reason and law is substituted 
for the power of the sword. To no other source 
can appeals from supposed Avrongs be made con- 
sistently with the obligations of South Carolina; 
to no other can such appeals be made with safety 
at any time ; and to their decisions, when consti- 
tutionally pronounced, it becomes the duty, no 



ANDREW JACKSON. 183 

less of the public authorities than of the people, in 
every case to yield to a patriotic submission. . . . 

Independently of these considerations, it will 
not escape observation that South Carolina still 
claims to be a component part of the Union, to 
participate in the national councils, and to share in 
the public benefits, without contributing to the 
pulilic burdens — thus asserting the dangerous 
anomaly of continuing in an association without 
acknowledging any other obligation to its laws 
than what depends upon her own will. 

In this posture of aflairs the duty of the Govern- 
ment seems to be plain. It incujcates the recog- 
nition of that State as a member of the Union, and 
suliject to its authority ; a vindication of the just 
power of the Constitution ; the preserv^ation of the 
integrity of the Union, and the execution of the 
laws by all consistent means 

While a forbearing spirit may, and, I trust, will, 
be exercised towardsth e errors of our brethren in 
a particular quarter, duty to the rest of the Union 
demands that open and organized resistance to the 
laws should not be executed with impunity 

For myself, fellow-citizens, devoutly relying 
upon that kind Providence which has hitherto 
watched over our destiny, and actuated by a pro- 
found reverence for those institutions I have so 
much cause to love, and for the American people, 
whose partiality honored me with this high trust, 



184 CHIPS FltOM THE WHITE IIOCSE. 

I have determined to spare no efibrt to discharge 
the duty which, in this conjuncture, is devolved 
upon me. That a similar spirit will actuate the 
liepresentatives of the American people is not to 
be questioned ; and 1 fervently pi'ay that the Great 
Ruler of nations may so guide your deliberations, 
and our joint measures, as that they may prove 
salutary examples, not only to the present, but to 
future times ; and solemnly proclaim that the Con- 
stitution and the laws are supreme, and the Union 
indissoluble. 

[From a letter; to Rev. A. J. Crawford, May 1, 1833.] 

The tariif was only a pretext [for nullifi- 
cation] , and Disunion and a Southern Confederacy 
the real object. The next pretext will be the 
negi'o or slavery question. 

[From a IVIessage, December G, 1836.} 

Variableness must ever be the character 

of a currency of which the precious metals are not 
the chief ingredient, or which can be expanded or 
contracted without regard to the principles that 
regulate tlie value of those metals as a standard in 
the general trade of the world. . . . The pro- 
gress of an expansion, or rather a depreciation of 
the currency, by excessive bank issues, is always 
attended by a loss to the laboring classes. This 
part of the community has neither time nor oppor- 



AXDKEW .TACKSOX. 185 

tunity to watch the ebLb and flows of the money 
market. Engaged from da}^ to day in their use- 
ful toils, they do not perceive that although their 
wages are nominally the same, or even somewhat 
higher, they are greatly reduced in fact by the 
rapid increase of a spurious curren(n% which, as it 
appears to make money a])ound, they are at tirst 
inclined to consider a blessinn;. 

To a INIajor Lewis, of Kentucky, who rather 
pompously said to General Jackson, '' Well, Gen- 
eral, I have all my life been voting against you," 
he replied, " Well, jNIajor, I have all my life l)een 
tighting the l)attles of my country in order that 
you might enjoy that privilege." — JV^aahviUe Ban- 
ner. 18b0. 



186 CHIPS FROM THE WHITE HOUSE. 



MAETIN VAN BUEEN. 

BORN, 1782; DIED, 1862, AGED 80. — SURROGATE OF COLUMBIA 
COUNTY, N. Y., 1808.— STATE SENATOR, 1812. — MEMBER OF 
THE CONVENTION TO REVISE THE NEW YORK STATE 
CONSTITUTION, 1821. — UNITED STATES SENATOR, 1827. — 
GOVERNOR OF NEW YORK, 1828. — SECRETARY OF STATE, 1829. 

— MINISTER TO ENGLAND, 1831. — VICE-PRESIDENT, 1832-1836. 

— PRESIDENT, 1837-1841. 

[From an Address, 1819.] 

The struggle which gave birth to our nation 
must ever be regarded as one of the most impor- 
tant and interesting eras the world has ever wit- 
nessed. History records no event which called 
into action a race of statesmen equal in all the 
splendid virtues which adorn and give celebrity to 
the human character. And it is a fact honorable 
to our nation, that of the long list of patriots and 
sages who, at the hazard of all that was dear to 
man, signed the Declaration of Independence, and 
of those w^ho framed the grand charter of our hb- 
erties, there has not been one who, in after life, 
has fallen from the eminence to which, by his con- 
nection with those events, he was raised, or has 
in the least impaired the character he thus ac- 
quired. Those whom the ravages of time have yet 



MARTIN VAN BUREN. 187 

spared to their countiy are everj'where honored 
and respected ; and those whose deaths we de- 
plore, who are now numbered with "the spirits of 
just men made perfect," have descended to the 
tomb accompanied by a nation's tears, and blessed 
with a nation's o-ratitude. 

[From a Speech in the Convention for revising the Consti- 
tution of New York, 1821, in favor of a proposition to 
vest in the Governor a revisory power upon the acts of 
the legislature.] 

Distinct branches are not only necessary 

to the existence of government, but when you 
have prescribed them, it is necessary that you 
should make them, in a great degree, independent 
of each other. No government can be so favored 
as to make them entirely separate ; but it has 
been the study of the wisest and best men to in- 
vent a plan by which they might be rendered as 
independent of each other as the nature of govern- • 
ment would admit. The legislative department is 
by far the strongest, and is constantly inclined to 
encroach upon the weaker branches of govern- 
ment, and upon individual rights. This arises 
from a variety of causes. In the first place, the 
powers of that department are more extended and 
indefinable than those of an}' other, which gives 
its members an exalted idea of their superiority. 
They are the representatives of the people, from 



188 CHirs Fr.oM the white house. 

which circumstance they think they possess, and 
of right ouglit to possess, all the iwwer of the peo- 
ple. This is natural, and it is easy to imagme the 
consequences that necessarily follow. 

This is not all. They hold the purse-strings of 
the state ; and every member of all the branches 
of the government is dependent on them for his 
subsistence. You have been told, and correctly 
told, that those who feed men, and enjoy the priv- 
ilege of dispensing the public bounty, will, in a 
greater or less degree, influence and control them. 
Is it unreasonable or im})robable to suppose that 
power, thus constituted, should have a tendency 
to exert itself for purposes not congenial with the 
true interests of the other branches of government ? 
. . . Such is the superior force and influence of 
legislative pf)wcr ; such is the reverence and re- 
gard with M'hich it is looked up to, that no man in 
the community will have the temerity, on ordinary 
occasions, to resist its acts or check its proceed- 
ings. I cannot illustrate this position more 
strongly than by a reference to the constitution of 
England. There the executive is a branch of the 
legislatui'e, and has an absolute negative. Sur- 
rounded as he is with prerogative, and placed far 
beyond the reach of the people, yet since the year 
1GD2 no objection has been made by the king of 
Great Britain to any bill presented for his ap- 
proval. Kather than produce the excitement and 



MARTIX VAN BUUEX. 189 

irritation which, even there, would result from the 
rejection of a bill passed by tjje Parliament, he has 
resorted to means which have dep'raded the gov- 
ernment and dishonored the nation, to prevent the 
passage of bills which he should feel it his duty to 
reject. In the Declaration of Independence, in 
the category of wrongs under which our fathers 
had been suffering, one of the most prominent 
was, that the king had exercised his prerogative, 
and had refused his sanction to salutary laws. 
Gentlemen may, therefore, rest satisfied that very 
little danger is to be apprehended on this subject. 

[From "Political Parties in the United States."] 

John Adams was in every sense a remarkable 
man. Nature seems to have employed in his con- 
struction intellectual materials sufiicient to have 
furnished many minds respectably. It would not 
be easy to name men either of his day or of any 
period, whose character presents a deeper or a 
stronger soil, one which during his long and some- 
w^hat boisterous jiublic life was thoroughly probed 
by his enemies without disclosing any variation in 
its depths from the qualities and indications of its 
surface. Still more deeply was it turned up and 
exposed to light by himself with the same result. 
His writings, which have been more extensive and 
more varied than those of any of his contempo- 
raries, have been given to the world apparently 



190 CHIPS FROM THE ^^^^ITE house. 

■without resen^e. These, with liis. diaries and auto- 
biography have turned his character inside out, 
and shown us, without disguise of any sort, the 
kind of man he was ; and the representation is in- 
variably that of the same "alwaj^s honest man" 
that he was three quarters of a century ago when 
that high praise was accorded to him hy his not too 
particular friend Benjamin Franklin, in a com- 
munication not designed to be over civil. . . . 
Mr. Jefferson, but two years before the death of 
both of them, on referring to that [the revolution- 
ary] period, and to Mr. Adams' great services, in 
my presence, was warmed by the subject, and 
spoke of him as having been the mainmast of the 
ship — the orator of the Revolution, etc. 

[From the Same.] 

Mr. Jefferson commenced the discharge 

of his official duties by an act which, though one 
of form, involved matter of the highest moment. 
I allude to the decision and facility with which, in 
his intercourse with other branches of the govern- 
ment, he suppressed the observance of empty 
ceremonies which had been l^orrowed from foreign 
courts by officials who took an interest in such 
matters, and were reluctantly tolerated by Wash- 
ington, who was himself above them. Instead of 
proceeding in state to the capitol to deliver a 
speech to the legislature, according to the custom 



MARTIN VAN BUREN. 191 

of monarclis, lie performed his constitutional duty 
by means of a message in writing, sent to each 
House l)y the hands of his private secretary, and 
tliey performed theirs by a reference of its con- 
tents to appropriate committees. The executive 
procession, instead of marking the intercourse be- 
tween the diflerent liranches of the government, 
was reserved for the Inauguration, when the Presi- 
dent appeared before the people themselves, and in 
their presence took the oath of office. 

[From his Reply to the Committee of the Convention which 
nominated him for the Presidency] 

We hold an immense stake for the weal 

or woe of mankind, to the importance of which we 
should not be insensible. The intense interest 
manifested abroad in every movement here that 
threatens the stability of our system, shows the 
deep conviction which pervades the world that 
upon its fate depends the cause of republican gov- 
ernment. The advocates of monarchical systems 
have not been slow in perceiving danger to such 
institutions in the permanency of our Constitution, 
nor backward in seizing upon every passing event 
by which their predictions of its speedy destruc- 
tion could be in any degree justified. Thus far 
they have been disappointed in their expectations, 
and the circumstances by which they were encour- 
aged, however alarming at the time, have in the 



192 CHIPS fko:m the ^VH1TE house. 

end only tended to slio\v forth the depth of that 
devotion to the Union which is yet, thank God, 
the master passion of the American bosom. 

[From a Message to Congress, September 5, 1837.] 

It has since appeared that evils similar 

to those suffered by ourselves, have been expe- 
rienced in Great Britain, on the Continent, and in- 
deed throughout the commercial world, and that 
in other countries as well as in our own, they have 
been uniformly preceded by an undue enlargement 
of the l)Oundaries of trade, prompted, as with us, 
by unprecedented expansions of the systems of 
credit. A reference to the amount of banking 
capacity and the issues of paper credits put in cir- 
culation in Great Britain by banks and in other 
ways, during the years 1834, 1835, and 1836, will 
show an augmentation of the paper currency' there, 
as much disproportioncd to the real wants of trade 
as in the United States. AVith this redundance in 
the paper currency, there arose in that country 
also a spirit of adventurous speculation embracing 
the whole range of human enterprise. Aid was 
profusely given to projected improvements ; large 
investments made in foreign stocks and loans ; 
credits for goods were granted with unbounded 
lil)erality to merchants in foreign countries; and, 
all the means of acquiring and employing credit 
s.cre put in active operation, and extended, in 
their eliects, to every department of business, and 



MARTIN VAN BlIREN. 193 

to cveiy quart ei' of the globe. The reaction Avas 
proportioned in its violence to the extensive char- 
acter of the events which preceded it. 

.... In A'iew of these facts, it would seem 
impossil)le for sincere inquirers after truth to 
resist the conviction, that the causes of the revul- 
sion in both countries have been substantially the 
same. Two nations, the most commercial in the 
world, en jo3'ing but recently the highest degree of 
apparent prosperity, and maintaining with each 
other the closest relations, arc suddenly, in a time 
of profound peace, and without any great national 
disaster, arrested in their career, and i)lungcd into a 
state of embarrassment and distress. In both coun- 
tries Ave have witnessed the same redundancy of 
paper money, and other facilities of credit ; the same 
spirit of speculation, the same partial successes ; 
the same difficulties and rcA'erses ; and at length 
nearly the same overwhelming catastrophe 

All connnunities are apt to look to government 
for too mucli. Even in our own country, Avhere 
its powers and duties are so strictly limited, 
we are prone to do so, especiallj^ at periods of 
sudden cml^arrassment and distress. But this 
ought not to be. The framers of Ttiiv excellent 
Constitution, and the people who approved it, 
with calm and sagacious deliberation, acted at the 
time on a sounder principle. They wisely judged 
that the less government interferes with private 

13 



194 CHIPS FROM THE WHITE HOUSE. 

pursuits, the better for the genenil prosperity. 
It is not its legitimate object to make men rich, or 
to repair, by direct gi'ants of money or legislation 
in favor of particular pursuits, losses not incurred 
in the public service. This would be substantially, 
to use the property of some for the benefit of 
others. But its real dut}^, that duty, the perform- 
ance of which makes a o-ood o-overnment the most 
precious of human blessings, is to enact and en- 
force a system of general taxes commensurate with, 
but not exceeding, the objects of its establishment, 
and to leave eveiy citizen and every interest to 
reap, under its benign protection, the rewards of 
virtue, industry, and piTidence 

The great agricultural interest has, in many 
parts of the country, suffered comparatively little ; 
and, as if Providence intended to display the mu- 
nificence of its goodness at the moment of our 
greatest need, and in direct contrast to the evils 
occasioned by the waywardness of man, we have 
been blessed, throughout our extended tenitory, 
with a season of general health and of uncommon 
fruitful ness 

It is a hioh gratification to know that we act for 
a pc()})lc to wiiom the truth, however unpromising, 
can always l)e spoken with safety, for the trial of 
whose patience no emergency is too severe, and 
who are sure never to despise a public functionary 
honestly laboring for the public good. 



WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON. 195 



WILLIAJVI HENEY HARRISON. 

BORN, 1773; DIED, 1841, AGED 68. — CAPTAIN IN THE ARMY, 
1795. — SECRETARY OF THE TERRITORY NORTH-WEST OF 
THE OHIO, 1707. — DELEGATE TO CONGRESS, 1790. — GOVERN- 
OR OF THE TERRITORY OF INDIANA, 1801.— ENGAGED IN 
THE BATTLE OF TIPPECANOE, 1811. — BRIGADIER-GENERAL 
AND CO:\i:\IANDER OF THE NORTH-WEST FRONTIER, 1812. — 
MAJORr-GENERAL, 1813. — COMMANDER IN THE BATTLE OF 
THE THAMES, 1813. — REPRESENTATIVE TO CONGRESS, 1816. 
— IN THE STATE SENATE OF OHIO, 1819. — IN THE UNITED 
STATES SENATE, 1824. — MINISTER TO COLOMBIA, 1828.— 
PRESIDENT, 1841. 

[From an Address, when Governor and Commander-in-chief 
of the territory of Indiana, to the Legislative Council 
and House of Representatives, 1805.] 

An enlightened and generous policy 

has forever removed all cause of contention with 
our western neighbors [by the acquisition of Lou- 
isiana in 1803]. The mighty river which sepa- 
rates US from the Louisianians will never be stained 
with the l)lood of contending nations, 1)ut will 
prove the bond of our Union, and will convey 
upon its bosom, in a course of many thousand 
miles, the produce of our great and united em- 
pire 



19G CHIPS FROM THE WHITE HOUSE. 

The interests of your constituents, the interests 
of the miserable Indians, and your own feelings, 
will suiBciently urge to take it into your most 
serious consideration, and provide the remedy 
which is to save thousands of our fellow-crea- 
tures. ... So destructive has the progress of 
intemperance been among them, that whole vil- 
lages have been swept away. A miserable I'emnant 
is all that remains to mark the names and situation 
of many numerous and warlike tribes. In the 
eneroetic Ian2:ua2:e of one of their orators, it is a 
dreadful conflagration, which spreads misery and 
desolation through their country, and threatens 
the annihilation of the whole race. 

Is it then to be admitted as a political axiom, 
that the neighborhood of a civilized nation is in- 
compatible with the existence of savages? Are 
the blessings of our repu1)lican government onh'' 
to be felt by ourselves? And are the nations of 
North America to experience the same fate with 
their brethren of the Southern Continent? It is 
with you, gentlemen, to divert from those children 
of nature the ruin which hangs over them. Nor 
can I believe that the time Avill be considered as 
misspent which is devoted to an object so consist- 
ent with the spirit of Christianity and with the 
principles of republicanism. 



k 



WILLIAM HENEY HARRISON. 197 

[To the Legislature of the territoiy of Indiana, 1807.] 

The propriety and policy of a law of this 

kind [authorizing the general and circuit courts to 
grant divorces] has been strongly contested in 
many parts of the United States ; and it is be- 
lieved that the principle has been everywhere con- 
demned, save in one or two States only. It can- 
not be denied that the success of one applicant for 
a divorce has always the effect of producing others, 
and that the advantages which a few individuals 
may derive from a dissolution of this solemn con- 
tract, are too dearly purchased by its injurious 
effects upon the morals of the community. The 
scenes which are frequently exhibited in trials of 
this kind are shocking to humanity. The ties of 
consanguinity and nature are loosened — the child 
is brousfht to ffive testimonv aijainst his parent — • 
confidence and affection are destroyed — family 
secrets disclosed — and human nature is exhibited 
in the Avorst colors. 

[From a letter dated Headquarters, Detroit, 9 October, 
1813, giving an account of the victory of the Amei-ican 
troops over the combined Indian and British foi'ces under 
General Proctor.] 

"Whilst I was engaged in forming the in- 
fantry, I had directed Colonel Johnson's * regiment, 

* Riclmrd M. Johnson. 



198 CHIPS FEOM THE AVIIITE HOUSE. 

which was still in front, to be formed in two lines, 
opposite to the enemy, and, upon the ad^'ance of 
the infantry, to take ground to the left, and form- 
ing upon that tiank, to endeavor to turn the right 
of the Indians. A moment's reflection, however, 
convinced me that from the thickness of the woods 
and swampiness of the ground, they would be un- 
able to do anything on horseback ; and there was 
no time to dismount them and place their horses 
in security ; I therefore determined to refuse my 
left to the Indians, and to lireak the British lines 
at once by a charge of the mounted infantry. The 
measure was not sanctioned by an}i:hing I had 
seen or heard of, but I was fully convinced that 
it would succeed. The American backwoodsmen 
ride better in the woods than any other people. 
A musket or rifle is no impediment to them, being 
accustomed to carry them on horseback from their 
earliest youth. I was persuaded, too, that the 
enemy would be quite unprepared for the shock, 
and that they could not resist it. Conformably to 
this idea, I directed the regiment to be drawn up 
in close column, witli its right at the distance of 
fifty yards from the road (that it might be in some 
measure protected by the trees from the artillery), 
its left upon the swamp, and to charge at full 
speed as soon as the enemy delivered their fire. 
The few regular troops of the 27th regiment, 
under their colonel (Paul), occupied, in column 



WILLIAM HENRY HAItEISON. 199 

of sections of four, the small space between the 
road and the river, for the purpose of seizing the 
enemy's artillery, and some ten or twelve friendly 
Indians were directed to move under the bank. 
The crotchet formed by the front line and General 
Desha's division was an important point. At that 
place the venerable governor of Kentucky (Shelby) 
was posted, who, at the age of sixty-six, preserved 
all the vigor of youth, the ardent zeal which dis- 
tinguished him in the Revolutionary war, and the 
undaunted bravery which he manifested at King's 
Mountain.* With my aid-de-camp, the acting 
assistant adjutant-general. Captain Butler, my gal- 
lant friend, Commodore Perry, who did me the 
honor to serve as my volunteer aid-de-camp, and 
Brigadier-General Cass, f who, having no command , 
tendered me his assistance, I placed myself at the 
head of the front line of infantry, to direct the 
movements of the cavalry, and give them the 
necessary support. The army had moved on in 
this manner but a short distance, when the 
mounted men received. the fire of the British line, 
and were ordered to charge ; the horses in the 
front of the column recoiled from the fire ; an- 
other was given by the enemy, and our column at 
length getting in motion, broke through the enemy 
with irresistible force. In one minute the contest 

* In North Carolina, October 9, 1780. 
t Lewis Cass. 



200 CHIPS FEOM THE WHITE HOUSE. 

in front was over ; the British officers, seeing no 
hopes of reducing their disordered ranks to order, 
and our mounted men wheeling upon them, and 
pouring in a destructive lire, immediately surren- 
dered. It is ceilain that three only of our troops 
were wounded in this charge. Upon the left, 
however, the contest was more severe with the 
Indians. Colonel Johnson, who commanded on 
the flank of his regiment, received a most galling 
fire from them, which was returned with great 
effect. The Indians still farther to the right ad- 
vanced, and fell in with our front line of infantry, 
near its junction with Desha's division, and for a 
moment made an impi^ssion upon it. His excel- 
lency Governor Shelby, however, brought up a 
regiment to its support, and the enemy, receiving 
a severe fire in front, and a part of Johnson's 
regiment having gained their rear, retreated with 
precipitation. The loss was very considerable 
in the action, and many were killed in the re- 
treat.* 

[From his Inaugural Address, 1841.] 

The spirit of liberty is the sovereign balm 

for every injury which our institutions may re- 
ceive. On the contrar}', no care that can be used 
in the construction of our government, no division 
of powers, no distribution of checks in its several 

* Tecumseh was killed in this battle. 



WILLIAM IIEXnV IIAP.rjSOX. 201 

departments, "vvill })rove effectual to keep us a free 
people, if this spirit is suffered to decaj^ , and de- 
cay it will without constant nurture. . . . And 
although there is at times much difficulty in dis- 
tinguishing the false from the true spirit, a calm 
and dispassionate investigation will detect the 
counterfeit, as well by the character of its ope- 
rations as the results that are produced. The true 
spirit of liberty, although devoted, persevering, 
bold, and uncompromising in principle ; that se- 
cured, is mild, and tolerant, and scrupulous as to 
the means it employs ; whilst the spirit of party, 
assuming to be that of liberty, is harsh, vindictive, 
and intolerant, and totally reckless as to the charac- 
ter of the allies wliich it Ijrings to the aid of its 
cause. 



202 CHIPS FROM THE "WTIITE HOUSE. 



JOHN TYLER. 

BORN, 1790; DIED, 1862, AGED 72. — GRADUATED AT WILLIAM 
AND ]MARY COLLEGE, 1807. — BEGAN PRACTICE OF LAW, 
1800. — IN LEGISLATURE OF VIRGINLi, 1811. — CONGRESS, 
1816. — STATE LEGISLATURE, 1820. — GOVERNOR OF VIRGINIA, 
1825. — UNITED STATES SENATOR, 1827.— IN THE STATE LEG- 
ISLATURE, 1838. — VICE-PRESIDENT, 1841.— PRESIDENT, 1841. 

[From an Address as President of the Senate, March, 1841.] 

Here are to be found the immediate 

Representatives of tlie States, by whose sovereign 
will the government has been spoken into exist- 
ence. Here exists that perfect equality among the 
members of this confederacy, which gives to the 
smallest State in the Union a voice as potential as 
that of the largest. To this bod}'" is committed, 
in an eminent dc2rree, the trust of o:uardin£]f and 
protecting the institutions handed down to us from 
our fathers, as well against the waves of popular 
and rash impulses on the one hand, as against at- 
tempts at executive encroachment on the other. 
It may properly be regarded as holding the balance 
in which is weighed the powers conceded to this 
government, and the rights reserved to the States 
and to the people. It is its province to concede 



JOHN TYLER. 203 

what has been granted — to withhold what has 
been denied ; thus, in all its features, exhibiting 
a true type of the glorious confederacy under 
which it is our happiness to live. Should the 
spirit of faction, that destructive spirit which reck- 
lessly walks over prostrate rights, and tramples 
laws and constitutions in the dust, ever tind an 
abiding place within this hall, then, indeed, will a 
sentence of condemnation be issued against the 
peace and happiness of this people, and their 
political institutions be made to topple to their 
foundations. But while this body shall continue 
to be what by its framers it was designed to be, 
deliberative in its character, unbiassed in its coun- 
sel, and independent in its action, then may liberty 
be regarded as intrenched in safety behind the 
sacred ramparts of the Constitution. 

[From a Message to Congi-ess, June 1, 1841.] 

I must be permitted to add, that no 

scheme of governmental policy, unaided by indi- 
vidual exertions, can 1)e available for ameliorating 
the present condition of things. Commercial 
modes of exchange, and a good currency are but 
the necessary means of commerce and intercourse, 
not the direct productive sources of wealth. 
Wealth can only be accumulated by the earnings 
of industry and the savings of frugality, and 
nothing can be more ill-judged than to look to 



204 CHIPS ftio:m the white house. 

facilities in boiTowino;, or to a redundant currency, 
for the power of discharging pecuniary obhgations. 
The country is full of resources, and the people 
full of energy ; and the great and permanent rem- 
edy for present embarrassments must be sought in 
industry, economy, the observance of good faith, 
and the favorable influence of time. 



JAMES K. POLK. 205 



jjlmes k. polk. 

BOEN, 1795; DIED, 1849, AGED 54. — GRADUATED AT THE UNI- 
VERSITY OF KOBTH CAROLIXA, 1818.— ADMITIED TO THE 
BAR, 1820. — IN THE TENNESSEE STATE LEGI0I.ATURE, 1823. 
— ELECTED TO CONGRESS, 1825. — SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE 
OF REPRESENTATIVES, 1835. — GO VERNOR OF TENNESSEE, 
1839. — PRESIDENT, 1845-1849. 

[From his Inaugural Address, ]\Iarch, 1»45.] 

" Who shall assign limits to the achieve- 
ments of free minds and free hands, under the 
protection of the glorious Union? No treason to 
mankind, since the organization of society, would 
be equal in atrocity to that of him who would lift 
his hand to destroy it. He would overthrow the 
noblest structure of human wisdom, which pro- 
tects himself and his fellow-men. He would stop 
the progress of free government, and involve his 
country either in anarchy or destruction. 

Has the sword of despots proved to be a safer 
0)' surer instrument of reform in government than 
enlightened reason? Does he expect to tind 
among the ruins of this Union a happier abode for 
our swarming millions than they now have under 
it? Every lover of his country must shudder at 



206 CHIPS FROM THE WHITE HOUSE. 

the thought of the possibility of its dissolution, 
and will be ready to adopt the political sentiment : 
Our Federal Union ; it must be preserved. 

Nor will it become in a less degree my duty to 
assert and maintain, by all consistent means, the 
right of the United States to that part of our terri- 
tory which lies beyond the Rocky Mountains. 
Our title to the country of the Oregon is clear and 
unquestionable, and already are our people pre- 
paring to perfect that title, by occupying it \vith 
their wives and children. But eighty years ago 
our population was confined on the west by the 
ridge of the Alleghanies. Within that period — 
within the lifetime, I may say, of some of my 
hearers — our people, increasing to many mil- 
lions, have filled the eastern valley of the Missis- 
sippi, adventurously ascended the Mississippi to 
its head springs, and are already engaged in estab- 
lishing the blessings of self-government in valleys 
of which the rivers flow to the Pacific. The world 
beholds the peaceful triumphs of the industry of 
our emigrants. To us l)elongs the duty of pro- 
tecting them adequately, wherever they may be 
upon our soil. The jurisdiction of our laws, and 
the benefits of our republican institutions, should 
be extended over them in the distant regions 
wliich tliey Imve selected for their homes. 



JAMES K. POLK. 207 

[Fi'om his first annual Message, December, 1845.] 

It is well known to the American 

people, and to all nations, that this government 
has never interfered with the relations subsisting 
between other governments. We have never 
made ourselves parties to their wars or their alli- 
ances ; we have not sought their territories by 
conquest ; we have not mingled with parties in 
their domestic struggles ; and believing our own 
form of government to be the best, we have never 
attempted to propagate it by intrigues, by diplo- 
macy, or by force. We may claim on this conti- 
nent a like exemption from European interference. 
The nations of America are equally sovereign and 
independent with those of Europe. They possess 
the same rights, independent of all foreign inter- 
position, to make war, to conclude peace, and to 
regulate their internal affairs. The people of the 
United States cannot, therefore, view w'ith indiffer- 
ence attempts of European powers to interfere 
with the independent action of the nations on this 
continent. The American system of government 
is entirely different from the European. Jealousy 
among the ditlercnt sovereigns of Europe lest any 
one of them might become too powerful for the 
rest has caused them anxiously to desire the estab- 
lishment of w^hat they term the " balance of power." 
It cannot be permitted to have any application on 



208 cnrps fro^i the white house. 

the North American Continent, and especialh^ to 
the United States. We must ever maintain the 
principle, that the people of this continent alone 
have the right to decide their own destiny. Should 
any portion of them, constituting an independent 
state, propose to unite themselves with our confed- 
eracy, this will be a question for them and us to 
determine, without any foreign interposition. 

Nearly a quarter of a century ago the principle 
was distinctly announced to the world in the an- 
nual message of one of my predecessors, that " the 
American continents, Iw the free and independent 
condition which they have assumed and main- 
tained, are henceforth not to be considered as 
subjects for future colonization hy any European 
powers." This principle will apply with greatly 
increased force should any European power at- 
tempt any new colony in North America. 

[From a Message, December, 1848.] 

Any attempt to coerce the President to 

yield his sanction to measures which he cannot ap- 
prove would be a violation of the spirit of the con- 
stitution, palpable and llagrant ; and if successful 
would break down the independence of the execu- 
tive department, and make the President, elected 
by the j^cople, and clothed l)y the constitution 
with power to defend their rights, the mere hi- 



JAMES K. POLK. 209 

strument of a majority of Congress. A surrender 
on his part of the powers with which the constitu- 
tion has invested his office would effect a practical 
alteration of that instrument, without resorting to 
the presci ibed form of amendment. 



210 CHIPS FROM THE TVTIITE HOUSE. 



ZACHARY TAYLOE. 

BORN, 1784; DIED, 1S50, AGED CO.- CAPTAIN EN THE UNITED 
STATES ARMY, 1810. — COLONEL, 1832. — IN THE BLACK IL\WK 
WAR, 1832. — BRIGADIER-GENERAL, 1837. — COMMANDER-IN- 
CHIEF IN FLORIDA, 1838. — IN THE MEXICAN W^Ul, 1846, 
1847. — PRESIDENT, 1849. 

[From a Message to Congress, December 27, 1849.] 

As indispensable to the preservation of 

our sj'stem of self-government, the independence 
of the representatives of the states and the people 
is guaranteed by the constitution, and they owe no 
responsibility to any human power but their con- 
stituents. By holding the representative respon- 
sible only to the people, and exempting him from 
all other influences, Ave elevate the character of the 
constituents, and quicken his sense of responsi- 
bility to his country. It is under these circum- 
stances only that the elector can feel that, in the 
choice of a lawmaker, he is himself trul}^ a com- 
ponent part of the sovereign power of the nation. 

With equal care we should study to defend the 
rights of the executive and judicial departments ; 
our government can only be preserved in its purity 
by the suppression and entire elimination of every 



ZACHARY TAYLOR. 211 

claim or tendency of one co-ordinate brancli to en- 
croacliment upon another. With the strict observ- 
ance of this rule, and the other injunctions of the 
constitution ; with a sedulous inculcation of the 
respect and love of the union of the states, which 
our fathers cherished and enjoined upon their chil- 
dren ; and with the aid of the overruling Provi- 
dence which has so long and so kindly guarded 
our liberties and institutions, we may reasonably 
expect to transmit them, with their innumerable 
blessings, to the remotest posteiity. 

But attachment to the union of the states should 
be habitutdly fostered in excvy American heart. 
For more than half a centurv, durins: which kins:- 
doms and empires have fallen, this Union has 
stood unshaken. ... In my judgment, its disso- 
lution would be the greatest of calamities, and to 
avert that should be the study of every American. 
Upon its preservation must depend our own happi- 
ness and that of countless generations to come. 
Whatever dangers ma}' threaten it, I shall stand 
by it and maintain it in its integi'ity to the full ex- 
tent of the obligations find the power conferred 
aj)on me by the constitution. 



212 CHIPS FROM THE WHITE HOUSE. 



MILLAED FILLMOEE. 

BOEN, 1800; DIED, lcS74, AGED T4. — BEGAN PKACTICls OF LAW 
1823.— ELECTED TO THE NEW YORK LEGISL^ITUEE, 1828.— 
TO CONGRESS, 1832. — RE-ELECTED, 1836.— AGAIN, 1838 AND 
1840. — CIIAIRJIAN OF C0M3IITTEE ON WAYS AND MEANS. 
—NEW YORK STATE COMPTROLLER, 1847. — VICE-PRESI- 
DENT, 1849. — PRESIDENT, JULY 10, 1850-1853. 

No individuals have a right to hazard 

the peace of the country, or to violate its laws, 
upon vague notions of altering or reforming gov- 
ernments in other states. . . . Friendly relations 
with all, but entangling alliances with none, has 
been a maxim with us. Our true mission is not 
to propagate our opinions, or impose upon other 
countries our form of government, by artifice or 
force, but to teach by example, and show by our 
success, moderation, and justice, the blessings of 
self-government and the advantages of free institu- 
tions. Let every people choose for itself, and 
make and alter its political institutions to suit its 
own condition and convenience. But while we 
avow and maintain this neutral policy ourselves, we 
are anxious to see the same forbearance on the 
part of other nations, whose forms of government 



MILLARD FILLMORE. 213 

are different from our own. The deep interest 
which we feel in the spread of liberal principles 
and the establishment of free governments, and 
the s^-mpathy with which we witness every strug- 
gle against oj)pression, forbid that we should bo 
indifferent to a case in which the strong arm of a 
foreign power is involved to stifle public senti- 
ment and repress the spirit of freedom in any 
country. 

[From a Message, December, 1850.] 

The great law of morality ought to 

Lave a national as well as a personal and individual 
application. We should act toward other nations 
as we wish them to act toward us ; and justice and 
conscience should form the rule of conduct be- 
tween governments instead of mere power, self- 
interest, and the desire of aggrandizement. To 
maintain a strict neutrality in foreign wars, to cul- 
tivate friendly relations, to reciprocate every 
noble and generous act, and to perform punctually 
and scrupulously every treaty obligation ; these 
are the duties which we owe to other states, and 
by the performance of which we best entitle our- 
selves to like treatment from them ; or if, in any 
case that be refused, we can enforce our own rights 
with a just and clear conscience. 



214 CIIIPS FllOM THE WHITE HOUSE. 

[From a Message, December, 1852.] 

It Ims been the uniform policy of this 

government, from its foundation to the i)resent 
day, to iibstuin from all interference in the domes- 
tic affairs of other nations. The consequence has 
been that while the nations of Europe have been 
engaged in desolating wars, our country has pur- 
sued its peaceful course to unexampled prosperity 
and happiness. . . • During the tcmble contest 
of nation against nation which succeeded the 
French revolution, we were enabled, by the wis- 
dom and iirmness of President Washington, to 
maintain our neutrality. While the nations were 
drawn into this Avide-spreacling wliirlpool, we sat 
quiet and unmoved upon our own shores. While 
the flower of their numerous armies was wavSted 
by disease, or perished by hundreds of thousands 
upon the battle-field, the youth of this favored land 
were permitted to enjoy the blessings of peace be- 
neath the paternal roof. While the states of 
Europe incurred enormous deljts, under the bur- 
den of which their subjects still groan, and which 
must al)sorb no small part of the produce of the 
honest industries of those countries for generations 
to come, the United States have once been enabled 
to cxliibit the proud spectacle of a nation free from 
public debt ; and if pennitted to pursue our pros- 
perous way for a few years longer in pea^e, w** 
may do the same again. 



MILLARD FILLMORE. 215 

But it is now said that this policy must be 
changed. Europe is no longer separated from us 
by a voyage of months, but steam navigation has 
brought her within a few days' sail of our shores. 
We see more of her movements, and take a deep 
interest in her controversies. Although no one 
proposes that we should join the fraternity of po- 
tentates who have for ages lavished the blood and 
treasure of their subjects in maintaining "the bal- 
ance of power," yet it is said that we ought to 
interfere between contendins: o-overnments and 
their subjects, for the purpose of overthrowing the 
monarchies of Europe, and establishing in their 
place republican institutions. It is alleged that 
we have hitherto pursued a different course from a 
sense of our weakness, but that now our conscious 
strength dictates a change of polic}^ and that it is 
consequently our duty to mingle in these contro- 
versies, and aid those who are stru2:2:lin2r for 
liberty. 

This is a most seductive but dangerous appeal 
to the generous sympathies of freemen. Enjoying, 
as we do, the blessings of a free o-ovcrnment, there 
is no man who has an American heart that would 
not rejoice to see these blessings extended to all 
other nations. . . . Nevertheless, is it prudence, 
or is it wisdom to involve ourselves in these foreign 
wars? Is it indeed true that we have heretofore 
refrained from doing so merely from the degrading 



216 CHIPS FROM THE WHITE HOUSE. 

motive of a conscious weakness? For the honor 
of the patriots who have gone before, I cannot ad- 
mit it. . . . The truth is, that the course which 
they pursued was dictated hy a stern sense of inter- 
national justice, by a statesman-like prudence, and 
a far-seeing wisdom, looking not merely to the 
present necessities, but to the permanent safety 
and interest of the country. They knew that the 
world is governed less by sympathy than b}' reason 
and force ; that it was not possible for this nation 
to become a " propagandist " of free principles with- 
out ari'aying against itself the combined powers of 
Europe ; and that the result was more likely to he 
the overthrow of republican liberty here than its 
establishment there. 



FRANKLIN PIERCE. 217 



FEANI^LIN PIERCE. 

BORN, 1804; DIED, 18G0, AGED G5. — GRADUATED AT BOWDOD? 
COLLEGE (ME.), 1824. — ADMITTED TO THE BAR, 1827.— 
ELECTED TO THE NEW HAMPSHIRE STATE LEGISL.1TURE, 
1829. — SPEAKER, 1832.— ELECTED TO CONGRESS, 1833. — TO 
THE LTsITED STATES SENA.TE, 1837. — GENERAL IN THE 
MEXICAN WAR. — PRESIDENT OF THE CONSTITUTIONAL 
STATE CONVENTION, 1850. — PRESIDENT, 1853-1857. 

[From a Message, December 6, 1854.] 

Our forefathers of the thirteen United 

Colonies, in acquiring their independence, and in 
founding this republic of the United States of 
America, have devolved upon us their descendants 
the greatest and most noble trust ever committed 
to the hands of men, imposing upon all, and 
especially such as the public will may have in 
vested, for the time being, with political functions, 
the most solemn obligations. We have to main- 
tain inviolate the great doctrine of the inherent 
right of popular self-government ; to reconcile 
the largest liberty of the individual citizen wath 
complete security of the public order ; to render 
cheerful obedience to the laws of the land, to unite 
in enforcing their execution, and to frown nidig- 
nantly on all combinations to resist them , to har- 
monize a sincere and ardent devotion to the insti- 
tutions of religious faith with the most universal 



218 CHIPS FROM THE WHITE HOUSE. 

religious toleration ; to preserve the rights of all 
by causing each to respect those of the other ; to 
cany forward every social improvement to the 
utmost limit of human perfectibility by the free 
action of mincl upon mind, not by oljtrusive inter- 
vention of misplaced force ; to uphold the integrity 
and guard the limitations of our organic law ; to 
preserve sacred from all touch of usurpation, as 
the very palladium of our political salvation, the 
reserved rights and powers of the several States 
and of the people ; to cherish, with loyal fealty 
and devoted afiection, this Union, as the only sure 
foundation on which the hopes of civil liberty 
rest ; to administer government with vigor, in- 
tegi'ity, and rigid economy ; to cultivate peace and 
friendship with foreign nations, and to demand and 
exact equal justice from all, but to do wrong to 
none ; to eschew intermeddling with the national 
policy and the domestic repose of other govern- 
ments, and to repel it from our own ; never to 
shrink from war when the rights and the honor of 
our country call us to arms, but to cultivate in 
preference the arts of peace, seek enlargement of 
the rights of neutrality, and elevate and liberalize 
the intercourse of nations ; and by such just and 
honorable means, and such onl}', while exalting the 
condition of the repul)lic, to assure to it the legiti- 
mate influence and the benign authority of a great 
example amongst all the powers of Christendom. 



JAMES BrCHAXAN. 219 



JAINIES BUCHANAN. 

BORN, 1791; DIED, 1808, AGED 77. — GRADUATED AT DICKIN- 
SON COLLEGE (PENN.), 1809. — ADMITTED TO THE RAR, 
1812.— ELECTED TO PENNSYLVANIA LEGISLATURE, 1811.— 
TO CONGRESS, 1821. — JMINISTER TO RUSSIA, 18C1. — UNITED 
STATES SENATOR, 1833.— SECRETARY OF STATE, 1845-1849. 
MINISTER TO ENGLAND, 1853. —PRESIDENT, 1857-1861. 

[From his jNIessage to Congress, December, 18G0.] 

In order to justify secession as a consti- 
tutional remedy, it must he on the principle that 
the Federal Government is a mere voluntary asso- 
ciation of States, to be dissolved at pleasure by 
any one of the contracting parties. If this be so, 
the confederacy is a rope of sand, to be penetrated 
and dissolved by the first adverse wave of public 
opinion in any of the States. In this manner our 
thirty-three States may resolve themselves into as 
many petty, jarring, and hostile republics, each 
one retiring from the Union, without responsibility, 
whenever any sudden excitement might impel them 
to such a course. By this process, a union might 
be entirely broken into fragments in a few weeks, 
which cost our forefathers many years of toil, pri- 
vation, and blood to establish. 

Such a prmciple is wholly inconsistent with the 



220 CHIPS FEOM THE WHITE HOUSE. 

history as well as the character of the Federal Con- 
stitution. After it was framed with the greatest 
deliberation and care, it wab submitted to conven- 
tions of the people of the several States for ratifi- 
cation. Its provisions were discussed at length in 
these bodies, composed of the first men of the 
country. Its opponents contended that it con- 
ferred powers upon the Federal Government dan- 
gerous to the rights of the States ; while its advo- 
cates maintained that, under a fair construction of 
the instrument, there was no foundation for such 
apprehension. In that mighty struggle between 
the first intellects of this or any other country, it 
never occurred to any individual, either among its 
opponents or advocates, to assert, or even to inti- 
mate, that their efforts were all vain labor, because 
the moment that any State felt herself agrieved she 
might secede from the Union. What a crusliing 
argument would this have proved against those 
who dreaded that the rights of the States would 
be endangered by the Constitution ! The truth is, 
that it was not till many years after the origin of 
the Federal Government that such a proposition 
was first advanced. It was then met and refuted 
by the conclusive arguments of General Jackson, 
who, in his Message of the 16th of January, 1833, 
transmitting the nulhfving ordinance of South 
Carolina to Congress, employs the following lan- 
guage : " The right of the people of a single State 



JAMES BUCHANAN. 221 

to absolve themselves at will, and without the con- 
sent of the other States, from their most solemn 
obligations, and hazard the liberty and happiness 
of the millions composing this Union, cannot be 
acknowledged. Such authority is believed to be 
entirely repugnant both to the principle upon 
which the General Government is constituted, and 
to the objects which it was expressly formed to 
attain." 

'* This government, therefore, is a great 

and powerful government, invested with all the 
attributes of sovereignty over the special subjects 
to which its authority extends. Its framers never 
intended to implant in its bosom the seeds of its 
own destruction, nor were they at its creation 
guilty of the absurdity of providing for its own 
dissolution. It was not intended by its framers to 
be the baseless fixliric of a vision, which, at the 
touch of the enchanter, would vanish into thin air ; 
but a substantial and mighty fabric, capable of re- 
sisting the slow decay of time, and of defying the 
storms of ages." 

[Proclamation for a National Fast, on January 4, 1861.] 
. . . . . The Union of the States is at the present 
moment threatened with alarming and immediate 
danger — panic and distress of a fearful character 
prevail throughout the land — our laboring popu- 
lation are without employment, and consequently 



222 CHirS FROM THE WHITE HOUSE. 

deprived of the means of earning their bread — in- 
deed, hope seems to have deserted the minds of 
men. All classes are in a state of confusion and 
dismay ; and the wisest counsels of our best and 
purest men are AvhoUj disregarded. 



ABRAHAM TJNCOLN. 223 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 

BORN, 1809; DIED, 1865, AGED 56. — CAPTAIN IN THE I5LACK 
HAWK AVAR. — ELECTED TO THE ILLINOIS STATE LEG- 
ISLATURE, 1831. — AGAIN, 1836.- ADMITTED TO THE BAR, 
1837.- ELECTED TO CONGRESS, 1846.— MEMBER OF THE 
COMMITTEE ON POST-OFFICES AND POST-ROADS AND 
WAR-DEPARTMENT EXPENSES.— MADE HIS FIRST SPEECH 
IN CONGRESS, JAN. 12, 1848, IN OPPOSITION TO THE MEX- 
ICAN WAR. — SPEECH IN COOPER'S INSTITUTE, NEW YORK 
CITY, I860. — PRESIDENT, 1860-1865. 

[" He is the author of a multitude of good say- 
ings, so disguised as pleasantries that it is certain 
they had no reputation at first but as jests ; and 
only later by the very acceptance and adoption 
they find in the mouths of millions, turn out to be 
the wisdom of the hour. I am sure if this man 
had ruled in a period of less facility of printing, 
he would have become mythological in a very few 
years, like ^sop or Pilpay, or one of the Seven 
Wise Masters, by his fables and proverbs. 

" But the weight and penetration of many pas- 
sages in his letters, messages, and speeches, hidden 
now by the very closeness of their application to 
the moment, are destined hereafter to a wide fame. 
What pregnant definitions 1 what unen-ing com- 



224 CHIPS FROM THE AVHITE HOUSE. 

mon-sense ! what foresight ! and, on great occa- 
sions, what lofty, and, more than national, what 
humane tone." — Ralph Waldo Emerson. 

How his quaint wit made home-truth 

seem more true. — London Panch.~\ 

[From a Lecture before the Springfield Lyceum, on the 
Pei'petuation of our Free Institutions, January, 1837.] 

At what point, then, is the approach of 

danger to be expected ? I answer, if it ever reach 
us, it must spring up amongst us. It cannot come 
from abroad. If destruction be our lot, we must 
ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation 
of freemen, we must hve through all time, or die 
by suicide. 

[Letter to Mr. Herndon.]* 

Washington, February 1, 1848. 

That vote affirms that the [Mexican] 

war was unnecessarily and unconstitutionally com- 
menced by the President; and I will stake my 
life, that, if you had been in my place, you would 
have voted just as I did. Would you have voted 
what you felt and knew to be a lie? I know you 
would not. Would you have gone out of the 
House, — skulked the vote? I expect not. If 
you had skulked one vote, you would have to 

* Mr. Lincoln voted for Mr. Ashmun's amendment. 



ABKAIIAM LIXCOLX. 225 

skulk many more before the end of the session. 
Richardson's resolutions, introduced before I made 
any move, or gave any vote upon the subject, 
make the direct question of the jirstice of the war ; 
so that no man can be silent if he vrould. You 
are compelled to speak ; and your only alternative 
is to tell the truth or tell a lie. 

[To the Same] 

Washington. July 10, 1S48. 

The way for a young man to rise is to 

improve himself every way he can, never sus- 
pecting that anybody wishes to hinder him. Allow 
me to assure you that suspicion and jealousy never 
did help any man in any situation. There may 
sometimes l)e ungenerous attempts to keep a 3"oung 
man dovrn ; and they will succeed, too, if he allows 
his mind to be diverted from its true channel, to 
brood over the attempted injury. Cast about, and 
see if this feeling has not injured every person you 
have ever known to fall into it. 

[Frora a Speech in Congress, July 27, 1848.] 

The other day one of the gentlemen from 

Georgia, an eloquent man, and a man of learning, 
so far as I could judge, not being learned myself, 
came down upon us astonishingly. lie spoke in 
what the Ualtimoi-e American calls the "scathinsf 
and withering style." At the end of his second 

15 



226 CHIPS FROM THE WHITE HOUSE. 

severe flash I was struck blind, and found myself 
feeling with my fingers for an assurance of my 
continued physical existence. A little of the bone 
was left, and I gi'adually revived. 

I say that no man is good enough to govern 
another man without that other s consent. — Oct. 
1854. 

[From a Speech in 1856.] 

Twenty-two years ago, Judge Douglas and I 
became first acquainted ; we were both young 
men — he a trifle younger than I. Even then we 
were both ambitious, I perhaps quite as much as 
he. With me the race of ambition has been a 
failure — a flat failure. With him it has been one 
of splendid success. His name fills the nation, 
and it is not unknown in foreign lands. I afiect 
no contempt for the high eminence he has reached, 
so reached that the oppressed of my species might 
have shared with me in the elevation. I would 
rather stand on that eminence than wear the richest 
crown that ever pressed a monarch's brow. 

[From a Speech delivered in 1857. Describing tlie helpless 
state of the American slave, he said] : 

They have him in his prison-house. They have 
searched his person and left no prying instrument 
with him. One after another they have closed the 
heavy iron doors upon him, and now they have 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 227 

him, as it were, bolted in with a lock of a hundred 
keys, which can never be unlocked without the 
concurrence of every key ; the keys in the hands 
of a hundred diiferent men, and they scattered to 
a hundred different and distant places ; and they 
stand musing as to what invention, in all the 
dominions of mind and matter, can be produced 
to make the impossibility of his escape more com- 
plete than it is. 

[From a Speech,* delivei-ed at Springfield, Illinois, June 17, 
1858, before the Republican State Convention.] 

If we could first know where we are, and whith- 
er we are tending, we could better judge vv'hat to 
do, and how to do it. We are now far into the 
fifth year since a policy was initiated with the 
avowed object and confident promise of putting an 
end to slavery agitation. Under the operation of 
that policy, that agitation has not only not ceased, 

* Mr. Lincoln read this speech, before its public delivery, 
to Mr. Ilerndon. When he had finished the first paragraph, 
he asked his auditor, " How do you like that? What do you 
think of it?" "I think," returned Mr. Ilerndon, "it is 
true ; but is it entirely politic to read or speak it as it is 
written?" "What makes the difference?" Mr. Lincoln 
said. "That expression is a truth of all human experience, 
•A house divided against itself cannot stand;' and 'he that 
runs may read.' The proposition is indisputably true, and 

has been true for more than six thousand years ; and 

I will deliver it as written. I want to use some universally 
known figure, expressed in simple language as universally 



228 CHirs FROM the white house. 

but has constantly augmented. In my opinion, it 
will not cease until a crisis shall have been reached 
and i)assed. " A house divided against itself can- 
not stand." I beUeve this government cannot en- 
dure permanently half slave and half free. I do 
not expect the Union to l)e dissolved. I do not 
expect the house to fall ; but I do expect it vrill 
cease to be divided. It will become all one thing, 
or all the other. Either the opponents of slavery 
will arrest the further spread of it, and place it 
where the public mind shall rest in the belief that 
it is in the course of ultimate extinction, or its ad- 
vocates will push it forward till it shall become 
alike lawful in all the states, old as well as new, 
north as well as south. 

[In the same speech, Mr. Lincoln said that the 
doctrine of " Squatter Sovereignty," otherwise 

known, that may strike home to the minds of men, in order 
to rouse them to the jjeril of the times. I would rather be 
defeated with this expression in the speech, and it held up 
and discussed before the people, than to be victorious icith- 
out it.'''' 

]\Ir. Lincoln was not elected senator. In the summer of 
1859, at a paily of friends, the subject of this speech Avas 
discussed. "We .all insisted," says Mr. Swett, who was one 
of the company, "that it was a great mistake," losing him 
his election. " Well, gentlemen," replied Mr. Lincoln, 
"you may think that speech was a mistake; but I never 
have believed it was, and you will sec the day when you 
will consider it was the nicest tiling I ever said." — See La- 
MON's JAfe of Lincoln. 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 229 

called " sacred right of self-government," as ex- 
pressed in the " Nebraska Bill," hy ^vhich the right 
of a slaveholder to hold slaves in any territory or 
state, was affirmed, amounted to this:] — "That 
if any one man chose to enslave another, no third 
man shall be allowed to object.'' 

[From a Speech in reply to INIr. Douglas, July 10, 1858.] 

We are now a mighty nation ; we are thirty, or 
about thirty millions of people, and we own and 
inhabit about one-fifteenth part of the dry land of 
the whole earth. We run our memory back over 
the pages of history for about eighty-two years, 
and we discover that we were then a very small 
people in point of numbers, vastly inferior to M'hat 
we are now, with a vastly less extent of country, 
with vastly less of everything we deem desirable 
among men, — we look upon the change as extreme- 
ly advantageous to us, and to our posterity, and 
we fix upon something that happened away back, 
as in some way or other being connected with this 
rise of prosperity. We find a race of men living in 
that day whom we claim as our fathers and grand- 
fathers ; they were iron men ; they fought for the 
principle that they were contending for ; and we 
understood that by what they then did it has fol- 
lowed that the degree of prosperity which we now 
enjoy has come to us. We hold this annual cel- 
ebration to remind ourselves of all the good done 



230 CHIPS FROM THE WHITE HOUSE. 

in this process of time, of bow it was done, and 
who did it, and how we arc historically connected 
with it ; and we go from these meetings in 1 )etter 
humor with ourselves ; we feel more attached the 
one to the other, and more tirml}' bound to the 
country we inhabit. In every way we are better 
men in the age, and race, and country in which 
we live, for these celebrations. 

But after we have done all this we have not yet 
reached the whole. . . . We have besides these 
descended by blood from our ancestors, men 
among us, perhaps half our people, who are not 
descendants at all of these men ; they are men 
who have come from Europe, — German, Irish, 
French, and Scandinavian, — men that have come 
from Europe themselves, or whose ancestors have 
come hither and settled here, finding themselves 
our equals in all things. If they look l)ack 
through their history to trace their connection 
with those days by blood, they find they have 
none ; they cannot carry themselves back into 
that glorious epoch, and make themselves feel 
that they are part of us ; but when they look 
through that old Declaration of Independence, 
the^i find that those old men say that " Vie 
hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men 
are created equal," etc., and then they feci that 
that moral sentiment taught in that day evidences 
their relation to those men, that it is the father of 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 231 

all moral principle in them, and that they have a 
right to claim it as though they were blood of the 
blood and flesh of the flesh of the men who wrote 
that declaration ; and so they are. That is the 
electric cord in that declaration that links the 
hearts of patriotic and liberty-loving men to- 
gether, that will link those patriotic hearts as long 
as the love of freedom exists in the minds of men 
throughout the world 



Those arguments that are made, that the inferior 
race are to be treated with as much allowance as 
they are capable of enjoying ; that as much is to 
be done for them as their condition will allow. 
What are these arguments ? They are the argu- 
ments that kings have made for enslaving the peo- 
ple in all ages of the world. You will find that 
all the arsfuments in favor of kin2:-craft were of 
this class ; they always bestrode the necks of the 
people, not that they wanted to do it, but because 
the people were better off" for being ridden. That 
is their argument, and this argument of the judge 
is the same old serpent that says, You work, and I 
eat; you toil, and I will enjoy the fruits of it. 
Turn it whatever way you will, whether it come 
from the mouth of a kins:, fin excuse for enslavinsT 
the people of his country, or from the mouth of 
men of one race as a reason for enslavini? the men 
of another race, it is all the same old serpent, and 
I hold if that course of argumentation that is made 



232 CHIPS FROM THE ^NTIITE HOUSE. 

for the purpose of convincing the public mind that 
we should not care about this, should l)e granted, 
it does not stop with the negro. I should like to 
know, taking this old Declaration of Independence, 
which declares that all men are equal upon princi- 
ple, and making exceptions to it, where will it 
stop? If one man says it does not mean the 
negro, why not another say it does not mean some 
other man? If that declaration is not the truth, 
let us get the statute book in which we find it and 
tear it out ! Who is so bold as to do it ! If it is 
not true, let us tear it out ! [Cries of " No, no ! "] 
Let us stick to it, then ; let us stand firml}^ by it, 
then. 

[From a letter to IMr. Speed, Au^ist 24, 1858.] 

Our progress in degeneracy appears to me to be 
pretty rapid. As a nation, we began by declar- 
ing that " all men are created equal." We now 
practically read it, " All men are created equal, 
except negroes." When the Know-nothings get 
control it will read, " All men are created equal, 
except negroes, and foreigners, and Catholics." 
When it comes to this I should prefer emigratmg 
to some country where they make no pretence of 
loving liberty ; to Russia, for instance, where des- 
potism can be taken pure, and without the base 
alloy of hj'pocrisy. 



ABRATIA-M LIXCOLX, 233 

[From a sjoeech delivered October, ISoS.j 

The judge has alluded to the Declaration of In- 
dependence, and insisted that negroes are not in- 
cluded in that declaration ; and that it is a slander 
upon the iramers of that instrument to suppose 
that negroes were meant therein ; and he asks }ou, 
Is it possible to believe that Mr. Jefferson, who 
penned the immortal pa})er, could have supposed 
himself appl}-ing the language of that instrument 
to the negro race, and yet held a portion of that 
race in slavery ? Would he not at once have freed 
them? I only have to remark, . . . that I believe 
the entire records of the world, from the date of 
the Declaration of Independence up to Avithin three 
years ago, may be searched in vain for one single 
affirmation, from one single man, that the negro 
was not included in the Declaration of Indepen- 
dence ; . . . that Washington ever said so, that 
any President ever said so, that any member of 
Congress ever said so, or that any living man upon 
the whole earth ever said so, until the necessities 
of the present policy of the Democratic party, in 
regard to slavery, had to invent that affirmation. 
And 1 will remind Judge Douglas and this audi- 
ence, that while ]\Ir. Jefferson was the owner of 
slaves, in speaking upon this very sul)ject, lie used * 
the strong language, thsit " he trembled for his 
country when he remembered that God was just." 



234 CHIPS FROM THE WHITE HOUSE. 

. . . He supposed there was a question of God's 
eternal justice wrapped up in the enslaving of any 
race of men, or any man, and that those who did 
so braved the arm of Jehovah ; that when a nation 
thus dared the Almighty, every friend of tJiat na- 
tion had cause to dread His wrath. 

[From a Speech delivered in 1858.] 

Judge Douglas declares that, if any community 
want slaverj^, they have a right to have it. He can 
say that logically, if he says that there is no wrong 
in slavery ; but if you admit that there is a wrong in 
it, he cannot logically say that anybody has a right 
to do wrong. He insists that, upon the score of 
equality, the owners of slaves and owners of prop- 
erty, — of horse, and every other sort of property, 

— should be alike, and hold them alike, in a new 
territory. That is perfectly logical if the species 
of property are alike, and are equally founded in 
riglit. But if you admit that one of them is wrong, 
you cannot institute any equality between right 
and wrong. And from this difference of sentiment, 

— the belief on the part of one that the institu- 
tion is wrong, and a policy springing from that 
belief which looks to the arrest of the enlargement 
of that wrong ; and this other sentiment, that it is 
no wrong, and a policy sprung from that sentiment 
which will tolerate no idea of preventing that 
wi'ong from growing larger, and looks to there 



ABRAHAM LDfCOLN. 235 

never being an end of it through all the existence 
of things, — arises the real difierence between 
Judo'e Douo'las and his friends on the one hand, 
and the Eepubhcans on the other. Now I confess 
myself as belonging to that class in the country 
"who contemplate slavery as a moral, social, and 
political evil, having due regard for its actual ex- 
istence amongst us, and the difficulties of getting 
rid of it in any satisfactory w^ay, and to all the 
constitutional obligations which have been throAvn 
about it ; but, nevertheless, desire a policy that 
looks to the prevention of it as a wrong, and looks 
hopefully to the time when, as a wrong, it may 
come to an end. 

[From a Speech at Alton, Illinois. To the question, "Is 
slavery wrong? " Mr. Lincoln said] : 

That is the real issue. That is the issue that 
will continue in this country when these poor 
tongues of Judge Douglas and myself shall be 
silent. It is the eternal struirQle between these 
two principles — right and wrong — throughout 
the world. They are two principles that have 
stood face to face from the beiiinninof of time, and 
will ever continue to struofole. The one is the 
common right of humanity, and the other the di- 
vine rioht of kings. 



236 CHirs FROM the white house. 

[From a Speech at Springfield, Illinois.] 

Judo'c Doii2:las is 2:oinsr back to the era of the 
EcvokitioD, and, to the extent of his ability, muz- 
zling the cannon ■which thunders its * annual joy- 
ous return. Yv^hen he invites any people willing 
to have slavery to establish it, he is l^lowing out 
the moral lights around us. When he says he 
" cares not vrhether slavery is voted down or voted 
up," — that it is a sacred right of self-government, 
— he is, in my judgment, penetrating the human 
soul, and eradicatino- the liuht of reason and the 
love of lilierty in this American people. 

[From a Speech in New York, at the Cooper Institute, Feb- 
ruary 27, 1860 ] 

"Wrong as Me tliink slavery is, we can 

3'et afford to let it alone where it is, because that 
much is due to the necessity arising from its actual 
presence in the nation ; but can we, while our 
votes vrill prevent it, allow it to spread into the 
national Territories, and to overrun here in these 
Free States? 

If our sense of duty forbids this, then let us 
stand by our duty fearlessly and effectively. Let 
us be diverted by none of these sophistical con- 
tri^anccs where with we are so industriously plied 

* The celebration of Indepeadence, on. the 4th of July. 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 237 

and belabored — contrivances such as groi)ing foi 
some middle ground between the right and the 
wrong, vain as the search for a man who should be 
neither a living man nor a dead man — such a 
policy of " don't care " on a question about which 
all true men do care, — such as Union appeals be- 
seeching true Union men to 3'ield to Disunionists, 
reversing the divine rule, and calling, not the sin- 
ners, but the righteous, to repentance — such as 
invocations to Washington, imploring men to un- 
say what Washington said, and undo what Wash- 
ington did. 

Neither let us be slandered from our duty by 
false accusations against us, nor frightened from it 
by menaces of destruction to the gov^ernment, nor 
of dungeons to ourselves. Let us have faith that 
right makes might ; and in that faith, let us, to 
the end, dare to do our duty as we understand it. 

[Farewell Speech to his neighbors, from the jjlatform of the 
car, as he was leaving Springfield for Washington, Feb- 
ruary 11, 18G1.] 

Friends, — No one who has never been placed 
in a like position can understand my feelings at 
this hour, nor the oppressive sadness I feel at this 
parting. For more than a (juartcr of a century I 
have lived among you, and during that time I have 
received nothing but kindness at your hands. Here 
I have lived from my youth, until now I am an old 



238 CHIPS FROM THE WHITE HOUSE. 

man. Here the most sacred ties of earth were 
assumed. Here all my children were born ; and 
here one of them lies bm'ied. To you, dear 
friends, I owe all that I have, all that I am. All 
the strange, checkered past seems to crowd now 
upon my mind. To-day I leave you. I go to as- 
sume a task more difficult than that which devolved 
upon Washington. Unless the gi-eat God, who 
assisted him, shall be with and aid me, I must fail ; 
but if the same omniscient mind and almighty arm 
that directed and protected him, shall guide and 
support me, I shall not fail, — I shall succeed. 
Let us all pray that the God of our fathers may 
not forsake us now. To Him I commend you 
all. Permit me to ask that, with equal sin- 
cerity and faith, you will invoke His wisdom 
and guidance for me. "With these few words I 
must leave 3'ou ; for how long I know not. Friends, 
one and all, I must now bid you an affectionate 
farewell. 

[In an Address to the Legislature of New Jersey, on Ins 
way to Washington, February, 1861, Mr. Lincoln said] : 

I shall endeavor to take the ground I deem most 
just to the North, the East, the West, the South, 
and the whole country. I take it, I hope, in good 
temper, — certainly with no malice toward any sec- 
tion. I shall do all that may be in my power to 
promote a peaceful settlement of all our difficulties. 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 239 

The man does not live who is more devoted to 
peace than I am — none who would do more to 
presence it. But it may be necessary to put the 
foot down firmly. And if I do my duty, and do 
right, you will sustain me, will you not? Received 
as I am by the members of a Legislature, the ma- 
jority of whom do not agree with me in political 
sentiments, I ti'ust that I may have their assistance 
in piloting the ship of State through this voyage, 
surrounde'd by perils as it is ; for if it should suf- 
fer shipwreck now, there will be no pilot ever 
needed for another voyage. 

[At Philadelphia, in " Independence Hall," from which was 
issued the Declaration of Independence, in 1776, Mr. 
Lincoln said] : 

I am filled with deep emotion at finding myself 
standing here, in this place, where were collected 
the Avisdom, the patriotism, the devotion to prin- 
ciple, from which sprang the institutions under 
which we live. You have kindly suggested to me 
that in my hands is the task of I'estoring peace to 
the present distracted condition of the country. I 
can say in return, sir, that all the political senti- 
ments I entertain have been drawn, so far as I 
have been able to draw them, from the sentiments 
which originated and were given to the woild from 
this hall. I have never had a feeling politically 
that did not spring from the sentiments embodied 



2 40 CHIPS Fi:o]M the white house. 

in the Declaration of Independence. I have often 
pondered over the dangers which vrcre incurred 
hy the men who assembled here, and framed 
and adopted the Declaration of Independence. 
I have pondered over the toils that Avere en- 
dured by the officers and soldiers of the army 
who achieved that independence. I have often 
inquired of myself what great principle or idea it 
Yv'as that kept this confederacy so long together. 
It was not the mere matter of the separation of the 
colonies from the mother-land, but that sentiment 
in the Declaration of Independence which gave 
liberty, not alone to the people of this country, 
but, I hope, to the world for all future time. It 
was that which gave promise that in due time the 
weight would l)e lifted from the shoulders of all 
men. This is a sentiment embodied in the Decla- 
ration of Independence. Now, my friends, can 
this country be saved upon this basis? If it can, 
I will consider myself one of the happiest men 
in the world if I can help to save it. If it cannot 
be saved upon that principle, it will be truly awful. 
But if this country cannot be saved without giving 
up that principle, I Mas about to say, I would 
rather be assassinated on this spot than surrender 
it. Now, in my view of the i^rcsent aspect of af- 
fairs, there need I)c no l^loodshed or war. There 
is no necessity for it. I am not in favor of such a 
course, and I may siiy, in advance, that there will 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN, 241 

be Tio bloodshed unless it be forced u|)on the Gov- 
ernment, and then it will be compelled to fict in 
sell-defence. 

My friends, this is wholly tm unexjKicted speech.^ 
... I may, therefore, have said something in- 
discreet. I have said nothing but what I am will- 
ing to live by, and, if it be the pleasure of Al- 
mighty God, to die hy. 

[From his Iniingural Address, March 4, 1861.] 

Vi^hy should there not be a patient 

confidence in the ultimate justice of the people? 
Is there any better or equ:d hope in the world ? 
In our present differences, is either party without 
faith of Ijcing in the right ? If the Almighty Ruler 
of nations, with his eternal truth and justice, be 
on your side of the North, or on yours of the 
South, that truth and that justice will surely prc^ 
vail, by the judgment of the great tri))unal of the 

American people 

You can have no conflict without J)eing }our- 
selves the aggressors. You have no oath regis- 
tered in heaven to destroy the government, while 
1 shall have the niost solemn one to " j^rescrve, 
protect, and defend " it. 

I am loath to close. T»'c are not enemies, but 
friends. Vi'c iimst not be enemies. Tiiough pas- 
sion may have strained, it mu,st not break our 
bonds of iuTection. The mystic cJiord of memory. 



242 CHIPS FROM THE ^\^^ITE HOUSE. 

stretching from every battle-field and patriot 
grave to every living heart and hearthstone all 
over this broad land, will yet swell the cliorus of 
the Union, when again touched, as surely it will 
be, by the better angels of our nature. 

[From a Message to Congress, July 4, 1861.1 

It might seem, at first thought, to be of 

little difference whether the present movement at 
the South be called "secession," or "rebellion." 
The movers, however, will understand the differ- 
ence. At the beginning they knew the}^ could 
never raise their treason to any respectable mag- 
nitude by any name which implies violation of law. 
They knew their people possessed as much of 
moral sense, as much of devotion to law and order, 
and as much pride in, and reverence for, the his- 
tory and government of their common countiy, as 
any other civilized and patriotic people. They 
knew they could make no advancement directly in 
the teeth of these strong and noble sentiments. 
Accordingly they commenced by an insidious de- 
bauching of the public mind. They invented an 
ingenious sophism, which, if conceded, was fol- 
lowed by perfectly logical steps, through all the 
incidents, to the complete destruction of the 
Union. The sophism itself is, that any State of 
the Union may, consistently with the National 
Constitution, and therefore lawfully and peace- 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 243 

fully, witliclraw from the Union without the con- 
sent of the Union, or of any other State. The 
little disguise that the supposed right is to be ex- 
ercised only for just cause, themselves to be the 
sole judge of its justice, is too thin to want any 
notice. 

With rebellion thus sugar-coated, they have 
been drugging the public mind of their section for 
more than thirty years, and until at length they 
have brought manv 2:ood men to a willingness to 
take up arms against the government the day after 
some assemblage of men have enacted that farcical 
pretense of taking their State out of the Union, 
who could have been brought to no such thing the 
day l)efore. 

[SjDeaking of what was called the right of peaceful secession, 
that is, secession in accordance with the National Con- 
stitution, he said] : 

This sophism derives much, perhaps the whole, 
of its currency from the assumption that there is 
some omnipotent and sacred supremacy pertaining 
to a State — to each State of our Federal Union. 
Our States have neither more nor less power than 
that reserved to them in the Union b}^ the Consti- 
tution, no one of tham ever having been a State 
oi«^ of the Union. The original ones passed into 
the Union even before they cast ofi* their British 
colonial dependence, and the new ones each camo 



244 CHIPS FROM THE 'UlIITE HOUSE. 

into the Union directly from a condition of depend- 
ence, excepting Texas. And even Texas, in its 
temporary independence, was never designated a 
State. The new ones only took the designation 
of States on coming into the Union, while that 
name was first adopted for the old ones in and by 
the Declaration of Independence. Therein the 
" United Colonies " were declared to l)e " free and 
independent States ; " but, even then, the object 
plainly was not to declare their independence of 
one another, or of the Union, but directly the con- 
trary, as their mutual pledge, and their mutual 
action, l)efore, at the time, and afterward, abun- 
dantly show. The express plighting of faith by 
each and all of the original thirteen, in the arti- 
cles of Confederation, two years later, that the 
Union shall be perpetual, is most conclusive. 
Having never been States, either in substance or 
in name, outside of the Union, whence this magi- 
cal omnipotence of "State rights," asserting a claim 
of power to lawfully destroy the Union itself? 
Much is said about the " sovereignty " of the 
States ; but the word even is not in the National 
Constitution, nor, as is believed, in any of the 
State Constitutions. What is a " sovereignty " in 
the political sense of the term ? Would it be far 
wrong to define it a "political community, with- 
out a political superior? " Tested by this, no one 
of our States, except Texas, ever was a sover- 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 245 

eignty ; and even Texas gave up the character on 
coming into the Union ; by which act she acknoAvl- 
edged the Constitution of the United States, and 
the laws and treaties of the United States made in 
pursuance of the Constitution, to be, for her, the 
supreme laws of the land. The States have their 
status IN the Union, and they have no other legal 
status. If they break from this, they can only do 
so against law, and by revolution. The Union, 
and not themselves separately, procured their 
independence and their liberty. By conquest, or 
purchase, the Union gave each of them whatever 
of independence and liberty it has. The Union is 
older than any of the States ; and, in fact, it 
created them as States. Originally, some de- 
pendent colonies made the Union, and, in turn, 
the Union threw off their old dependence for them, 
and made them States, such as they are. Not 
one of them ever had a State constitution indepen- 
dent of the Union. Of course, it is not forgotten 
that all the new States framed their constitutions 
before they entered the Union ; nevertheless de- 
pendent upon, and preparatory to, coming into the 
Union. 

This relative matter of National power and State 
rights, as a principle, is no other than the princi- 
ple of generality, and locality. Whatever con- 
cerns the whole should be confided to the whole — 



246 CHIPS FROM THE WHITE HOUSE. 

to the general government ; while whatever con- 
cerns onhj the State should be left exclusively to 
the State. This is all there is of original principle 
about it. 

Our adversaries have adopted some declarations 
of independence, in which, unlike the good old 
one penned by Jefferson, they omit the words, 
" All men are created equal." Why? They have 
adopted a temporary national constitution, in the 
preamble of which, unlike our good old one signed 
by Washington, they omit " We, the people," and 
substitute " We, the deputies of the sovereign and 
independent States." Why? Why this deliber- 
ate pressing out of view the rights of men and the 
authority of the people? This is essentially a 
people's contest. On the side of the Union, it is 
a struofiile for maintaining in the world that form 
and substance of government whose leading object 
is to elevate the condition of men ; to lift artilicial 
weiglits from all shoulders ; to clear the paths of 
laudable pursuit to all ; to afford all an unfettered 
start, and a fair chance in the race of life. Yield- 
ing to partial and temporary departures, from ne- 
cessity, this is the leading object of the govern- 
ment, for whose existence we contend. I am most 
happy to believe that the plain people understand 
and appreciate this. 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 247 

[Reply to a Letter of Horace Greeley, entitled, "The Prayer 
of Twenty Millions," to President Lincoln.] 

August 22, 1862. 

I have just read yours of the nineteenth, ad- 
dressed to myself through the JVeivYork Tribune. 
If there be in it any statement, or assumptions of 
fact, which I may know to be erroneous, I do not 
now and here controvert them. If there be in it 
any inference, which I may believe to be falsely 
drawn, I do not now and here ara^ue asfainst them. 
If there be perceptible in it an impatient and dic- 
tatorial tone, I waive it in deference to an old 
friend, whose heart I have always supposed to be 
right. 

As to the policy I " seem to be pursuing," as 
you say, I have not meant to leave any one in 
doubt. 

I Avould save the Union. I would save it the 
shortest way under the Constitution. The sooner 
the National authority can be restored, the nearer 
tlie Union will be " the Union as it was." If there 
be those who would not save the Union unless they 
could at the same time save Slavery, I do not 
agree with them. If there be those who would 
not save the Union unless they could at the same 
time destroy slavery, I do not agree "witli them. 
My paramount object in this struggle is to save 
the Union, and is not cither to save or destroy 
slavery. If I could save the Union without freeing 



248 CHIPS Fno:\r ttte wjuti: noi^sE. 

any slave, I would do it ; and if I could save it I)}'' 
freeing all the slaves, I would do it ; and if I could 
do it by freeing some and leaving others alone, I 
would also do that. What I do about slavery and 
the colored race, I do because I believe it helps to 
save this Union ; and what I forbear, I forbear 
because I do not believe it would help to save the 
Union. 1 shall do less whenever I shall believe 
what I am doing hurts the cause, and I shall do 
7no7'e whenever I shall believe doino; more will 
help the cause. I shall try to connect errors when 
shown to be errors ; and I shall adopt new views 
so fast as they shall appear to be true views, 

I have here stated my purpose according to my 
view of official duty, and I intend no modification 
of my oft-expressed personal wish, that all men, 
everyAvhere, could be free. 

[To a delogation of clcrgrmen from Chicago, who urged 
hhn to issue a proclamation of emancipation, September 
13, 1862.] 

I do not want to issue a document that the 

whole world v>all see must necessarily be inopera- 
tive, like the pope's bull against the comet. . . . Do 
not misunderstand me, because I have mentioned 
these olijections. They indicate the diiEculties 
which have thus far prevented my action in some 
such way as you desire. I have not decided 
against a proclamation of liberty to the slaves, but 



ABRAIIA3I LINCOLN. 249 

hold the matter under advisement. And I can 
assure you that the subject is on my mind, by day 
and night, more than any other. Whatever shall 
appear to be God's will, I will do. 

[To strictures upon his conduct of the w;ir by some "Western 
gentlemen, he replied] : 

Gentlemen, suppose all the property you were 
worth was in gold, and you had put it in the hands 
of Blondin to carry across Niagara Falls on a tight- 
rope, would you shake the rope while he was pass- 
ing over it, or lieep shouting to him, "Blondin, 
stoop a little more ; " " Go a little faster? " No, I 
am sure you would not. You would hold your 
breath as well as your tongue, and keep your hands 
off until he was safely over. Now the government 
is in the same situation, and is carrying across a 
stoiTuy ocean an immense weight ; untold treasures 
are in its hands ; it is doing the best it can ; don't 
badger it ; keep silence, and it will get you safely 
over. 

[General Order respecting the observance of the Sabbath in 
the army and navy.] 

November 16, 18G2. 

The President, Commander-in-Chief of the Army 
and Navy, desires and enjoins the orderly observ- 
ance of the Sabbath by the officers and men in 
the military and naval service. The importance 
for man and beast of the prescribed weekly rest, 



250 CHIPS FROM THE -WHITE HOUSE. 

the sacred rights of Christian soldiers and sailors, 
a l)ccoming deference to the best sentiment of a 
Christian people, and a due regard for the Divine 
■uill, demand that Sunday labor in the army and 
navy be reduced to the measure of strict neces- 
sity. 

The discipline and character of the national 
forces should not suffer, nor the cause they defend 
be imperilled, by the profanation of the day or 
the name of the Most Hi oh. " At this time of 
public distress," adopting the words of Washington 
in 1776, ''men may find enough to do in the ser- 
vice of God and their country without abandoning 
themselves to vice and immorality." The first 
general order issued by the Father of his Country 
after the Declaration of Independence, indicates 
the spirit in which our institutions were founded 
and should ever be defended : " The General hopes 
and trusts that every ofiiccr and man will endeavor 
to live and act as becomes a Christian soldier de- 
fending the dearest rio;hts and liberties of his coun- 
try." 

[To INIr. Colfox, on the evenin;]^ of the day on which Mr. 
Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, January 
1, 1863.] 

The South had fiiir warning, that if thej^ did not 
return to their dut}^, I should strike at this pillar 
of their strength. The promise must now be 
kept, and I shall never recall one word. 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN, 251 

[Reply to an Address by the citizens of IManchester, Eng- 
land, after the issuing of the Proclamation of Emanci- 
pation.] 

Jmiuary 19, 1SG3. 

To the Workin^men of jManchester : . . . 
AVben I came, on the fourth of March, 1861, 
through a free and constitutional election, to pre- 
side in the Government of the United States, the 
country was found at the verge of civil war. 
Whatever might have been the cause, or whose- 
soever the fault, one duty, paramount to all others, 
was before me, namely, to maintain and preserve 
at once the Constitution and the integrity of the 
Federal Republic. A conscientious purpose to 
perform this duty is the key to all the measures 
of administration which have been, and to all 
which will hereafter be pursued. Under our frame 
of government and my official oath, I could not 
depart from this purpose if I would. It is not 
always in the power of governments to enlarge or 
restrict the scope of moral results which follow 
the policies that they may deem it necessary, for 
the public safety, from time to time to adopt 

I know, and deeply deplore, the sufferings which 
the workingmen at Manchester, and in all Europe, 
are called to endure in this crisis. It has been often 
studiously represented that the attempt to over- 
throw this Goverimaent, which was built upon the 
foundation of human rights, and to substitute for 



252 CHIPS FEOM THE WHITE HOUSE. 

it one which should rest exclusively on the basis 
of human slavery, was likely to oljtain the faA or 
of Europe. Through the action of our disloyal 
citizens, the workinirmen of Europe have been 
subjected to severe trial, for the purpose of forcing 
their sanction to that attempt. Under these cir- 
cumstances I cannot but regard your decisive utter- 
ances upon the question as an instance of sublime 
Christian heroism which has not been surpassed in 
any age or in any country. It is indeed an ener- 
getic and re-inspiring assurance of the inherent 
power of truth, and of the ultimate and universal 
triumph of justice, humanity, and freedom. I do 
not doubt that the sentiments you have expressed 
will be sustained by your gi-eat nation; and, on 
the other hand, I have no hesitation in assuring 
you that they will excite admiration, esteem, and 
the most reciprocal feelings of friendship among 
the American people. 

I hail this interchange of sentiment, therefore, 
as an augury that, whatever else may happen, 
whatever misfortune may befall your country or 
my own, the peace and friendship which now ex- 
ist between the two nations will be, as it shall be 
my desire to make them, perpetual. 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 253 

[From his Reply to Rcsolntions of the New York Demo- 
crats, J\I:vy 19, 18G3, protesting against his suspension of 
the writ of habeas corpus, and arrest of Mr. Vallanding- 
ham for tlie crime of seeking to prevent the enlistment 
of troo2)s.] 

Prior to my installation here it had been 

inculcated that any State had a lawful right to 
secede from the National Union, and that it would 
be expedient to exercise the right whenever the 
devotees of the doctrine should fail to elect a 
president to their own liking. I was elected con- 
trary to their liking ; and accordingly, so for as it 
was legally possible, they had taken seven States 
out of the Union, had seized many of the United 
States forts, and had fired upon the United States 
flag, all before I was inaugurated, and of course 
before I had done any official act whatever. The 
rel^cUion thus begun soon ran into the present 
civil vrar ; and, in certain respects, it began on 
very unequal terms between the parties. The in- 
surgents had been preparing for it more than 
thirty years, while the government had taken no 
steps to resist them. The former had carefully 
considered all the means which could be turned to 
their account. It undoubtedly was a well-pon- 
dered reliance with them that in their own unre- 
stricted eflbrts to destroy Union, Constitution, and 
law, all together, the government would, in great 
degree, be restrained by the same Constitution 



254 CHIPS FROM THE WHITE HOUSE. 

and law from arresting their progress. Theit 
sympathizers pervaded all departments of the gov- 
ernment and nearly all communities of the people. 
From this material, under cover of " liberty of 
speech," "liberty of the press," and habeas corpus^ 
they hoped to keep on foot amongst us a most effi- 
cient corps of spies, informers, suppliers, and 
aiders and abettors of their cause in a thousand 
M^ays. They knew that in times such as they were 
inaugurating, by the constitution itself, the habeas 
corjjus might be suspended ; but they also knew 
they had friends who would make a question as to 
who was to suspend it ; meanwhile their spies and 
others might remain at large to help on their 
cause. Or if, as has happened, the executive 
should suspend the writ, without ruinous waste of 
time, instances of arresting innocent persons might 
occur, as are always likely to occur in such cases, 
and then a clamor could be raised in regard to 
this, which might be, at least, of some service to 
the insurgent cause. It needed no very keen per- 
ception to discover this part of the enemy's pro- 
gramme so soon as by open hostilities their ma- 
chinery was fairly put in motion. Yet, thoroughly 
imbued with a reverence for the guaranteed rights 
of individuals, I was slow to adopt the strong 
measures which by degrees I have been forced to 
regard as being within the exceptions of the 
Constitution, and as indispensable to the public 
safety 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 255 

I understand the meeting, whose resolutions I 
am considering, to be in favor of suppressing the 
rebellion by militaiy force — by armies. Long 
experience has shown that annies cannot bo main- 
tained unless desertion shall be punished by the 
severe penalty of death. The case requires, and 
the law and the Constitution sanction this punish- 
ment. Must I shoot a simple-minded soldier-boy 
who deserts, while I must not touch a hair of a 
wily agitator who induces him to desert ? This is 
none the less injurious when effected by getting a 
father, or brother, or friend, into a public meeting, 
and there working upon his feelings till he is per- 
suaded to write the soldier-boy that he is fighting 
in a bad cause, for a wicked administration of a 
contemptible government, too weak to aiTcst and 
punish him if he shall desert. I think that in such 
a case to silence the agitator and save the boy, is 
not only constitutional, but withal a great menjy. 

Nor am I able to appreciate the danger appre- 
hended l)y the meeting, that the American people 
will, by means of military arrests during the rebel- 
lion, lose the right of public discussion, the liberty 
of speech and the press, the law of evidence, trial 
by jury, and habeas corpus throughout the indoli- 
nite peaceful future which, I trust, lies before 
them, any more than I am able to believe that a 
man could contract so strong an appetite for 



256 CHIPS FROM THE "V\anTE HOUSE. 

emetics during temporary illness as to persist in 
feeding upon them during the remainder of his 
healthful life. 

In giving the resolutions the earnest considera- 
tion which you request of me, I cannot overlook 
the fact that the meeting speak as ''Democrats." 
Nor can I with full respect for their known intel- 
ligence, and the fairly presumed deliberation with 
which they prepared these resolutions, l)e permit- 
ted to suppose that this occurs by accident, or in 
any way other than that they prefer to designate 
themselves Democrats rather than American citi- 
zens. In this time of national peril I would have 
preferred to meet you on a level one step higher 
than any party platform, because I am sure that 
from such more elevated position we could do bet- 
ter battle for the country we all love than we pos- 
sibly can from those lower ones where, from the 
force of habit, the prejudices of the past, and 
selfish hopes of the future, we are sure to expend 
much of our ingenuity and strength in finding 
fault with, and aiming blows at, each other. But, 
since you have denied me this, I will yet be thank- 
ful, for the country's sake, that not all Democi'ats 
have done so. 

[Letter to James C. Conkling.] 

August IG, 18G3. 

There are those who are dissatisfied 

with me. To such I would say. You desire peace, 



ABKAHA3I LIXCOLX. 257 

and you blaiuo mc that Ave do not have it. But 
hosv can avc obtain it? There arc but three con- 
ceivable ways. First, to suppress the rebellion 
l^y force of arms. This I am trying to do. Are 
you for it ? If you are so, Ave are agreed. If you 
are not for it, a second Avay is to give up the 
Union. I am against this. If you are, 3"ou should 
say so plainly. If you are not for force, nor yet 
for dissolution, there only remains some imaginary 
compromise. I do not ))eiieve that any com})ro- 
mise eni])racing the maintenance of the Union is 
noAv possil)le. All that I learn leads to a directly 
opposite belief. The strength of the rebellion is 
its militar}-, its array. The army dominate all the 
country, and all the people Avithin its range. Any 
ofier of terms made by any man or men AA'itliin 
that range in opposition to that arm}' h simply 
nothing for the present ; because such man or 
men liaA-e no poAver Avhatever to enforce their side 
of a comj^romise, if one Avere made Avith them. 

You dislike the Emancipation Proclamation, and 
perhaps AA'ould haAx it retracted. You say it is un- 
constitutional. I think diifercntly. I think the Con- 
stitution invests its Connnander-in-chief Avith the 
laAV of Avar in the time of Avar. The most that can 
be said, if so much, is that slaves arc property. 
Is there, has there ever l)een, any question that by 
the hiAv of Avar propertj', both of enemies and 



258 CHIPS FROM THE WHITE HOUSE. 

friends, may be taken when needed? And is it 
not needed whenever taking it helps us and hurts 
the enemy ! Armies the world over destroy ene- 
my's property when they cannot use it ; and even 
destroy their own to keep it fi'om the enem3^ 
Civilized belligerents do all in their power to help 
themselves and hurt the enemy, except a few 
things regarded as barbarous or cruel. Amongr 
the exceptions are the massacre of vanquished foes 
and non-combatants, male and female. 

But the Proclamation, as law, is valid, or is not 
valid. If it is valid, it cannot be retracted any 
more than the dead can be brouoht to life. Some 
of you profess to think that its retraction would 
operate favorably for the Union. Why better 
after the retraction than before the issue ? There 
was more than a year and a half of trial to sup- 
press the rebellion before the Proclamation vras 
issued, the last one hundred days of which passed 
under an explicit notice that it was coming, unless 
averted by those in revolt returning to their 
allegiance. The Avar has certainly progressed as 
favora])ly for us since the issue of the Proclamation 
as before 

You say you will not fight to free negroes. 
Some of them seem to be willing to fight for 3'ou. 
But no matter. Fight you then exclusively to 
save the Union. I issued the Proclamation on 
purpose to aid you in saving the Union. 



ABEaHAJiI LINCOLN. 259 

Whenever we shall have conquered all resist- 
ance to the Union, if I shall urge you to continue 
fighting, it will be an apt time then for you to de- 
clare that you will not tight to free negroes. 

I thought that in }our struggle for the Union , to 
whatever extent the negroes should cease helping 
the enemy, to that extent it weakened the enemy 
in his resistance to jou . Do you think differently ? 
I thought that whatever negroes can be got to do 
as soldiers leaves just so much less for white sol- 
diers to do in saving the Union. Does it appear 
otherwise to you? But negroes, like other peo- 
ple, act upon motives. Why should they do any- 
thino- for us if we will do nothins; for them ? If 
they stake their lives for us they must be 
prompted by the strongest motive, even the 
promise of their freedom. And tlie promise, be- 
ing made, must be kept. 

The sims look better. The Father of Waters 
asrain ijoes unvexed to the sea. Thanks to the 
great North-west for it. Nor yet wholly to them. 
Three hundred miles up they met New England, 
Empire, Keystone, and Jersey hewing their Avay 
right and left. The sunny South, too, in more 
colors than one, also lent a hand. On the spot 
their part of the history was jotted down in black 
and white. The job was a great national one, and 
let none be banned who bore an honorable part in 
it. And while those who have cleared the areat 



260 CHIPS FROM THE WHITE HOUSE. 

river may well he proud, even that is not all. It 
is hard to say that anything has been more bravely 
or better done than at Antietam, IMurfreesboro, 
Gettysburg, and on many fields of lesser note. 

Nor must Uncle Sam's we])-foot l)e forgotten. 
At all tlie waters' margins they have been present, 
not only on the deep sea, the broad bay, and the 
rapid river, but also up the narrow, muddj^ 
bayou, and wherever the ground was a little 
damp, they have been and made their tracks. 

Thanks to all. For the great licpublic, — for 
the principles by which it lives and keeps alive for 
man's vast future, — thanks to all. 

Peace does not appear so distant as it did. I 
hope it will soon come, and come to stay, and so 
come as to be worth keeping in all future time. 
It will then have been i)roved that among freemen 
there can he no successful appeal from the ballot 
to tlie l)ullct, and that they who take such appeal 
are sure to lose their case, and pay the cost. 

And then there will be some l)lack men Avho can 
remember that, with silent tongue, and clenched 
teeth, and steady eye, and well-poised bayonet, 
they have helped mankind on to this great con- 
summation, while I fear there will be some white 
men unable to forget that, with malignant heart 
and deceitful speech, they have striven to hin- 
der it. 

Still, let us not be over sanguine of a speedy 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 20 1 

final triumph. Let us be quite sober. Let us 
diligently apply the means, never doubting that a 
just God, in his own good time, will give us the 
rightful residt. 

[To Ml-. Colfax, in the winter of 18G3, the morning after 
unfavorable news from the army.] 

How willingly would I exchange places to-day 
with the soldier who sleeps on the ground in the 
Army of the Potomac. 

[From his third Annual Message to Congress, December 8, 
1863.] 

AVhen Congress assembled a year ago, 

the war had already lasted nearly twenty months, 
and there had been many conflicts on both land and 
sea w'ith varying results. The rebelhon had been 
pressed back into reduced limits ; yet the tone of 
public feeling and opinion, at home and abroad, 
was not satisfactor3\ With other signs, the popu- 
lar election, then just passed, indicated uneasiness 
among ourselves, while amid much that w^as cold 
and menacing, the kindest words coming from Eu- 
rope were uttered in accents of pity*that we were 
too blind to surrender a hopeless cause. 

[From a Speech after his re-cloction, Xoveniber 10, 1864.] 

So long as I have been here I have not willingly 
planted a thorn in any man's bosom. AVhile I am 



262 CHIPS FROM THE -NVHITE HOUSE. 

deeply sensible of the high compliment of a re- 
election, and duly grateful, I trust, to Almighty 
God for having directed my countrymen to a right 
conclusion, as I think, for their own good, it adds 
nothing to my satisfaction that any other man may 
be disapj)ointcd or pained by the result. 

[To a Committee of the Xew York Workingmen's Republi- 
can Association, March 21, 18G4.] 

The strongest bond of human sympathy, 

outside of the family relation, should be one unit- 
ing all working people, of all nations, tongues, and 
kindreds. Nor should this lead to a war upon 
property or the owners of })ropcrty. Property' is 
the fruit of lal)or ; property is desira])le, is a posi- 
tive good in the world. That some should be rich 
shows that others may become rich, and hence is 
just encouragement to independence and enter- 
prise. Let not him who is houseless pull down 
the house of another, but let him labor diligently 
and build one for himself; thus by example as- 
suring that his own shall be safe from violence 
when built. 

[From a letter to Colonel Hodges, of Kentucky.] 

Washingtox, April 4, 1864. 

You ask me to put in writing the sul)stance of 
what I verbally said the other day in 3^our pres- 
ence to Governor Bramlette and Senator Dixon. 



ABEAHAM LINCOLN. 2G3 

It was about as follows: "I am naturally anti- 
slavery. If slavery is not wrong, nothing is 
wrong. I cannot remember when I did not so 
think and feel, and yet I have never understood 
that the Presidency conferred upon me an unre- 
stricted right to act officially upon this judgment 
and feeling. It was in the oath I took that I would 
to the best of my abihty preserve, protect, and 
defend the Constitution of the United States. I 
could not take the office without taking the oath. 
Nor was it in my view that I might take an oath 
to get power, and break the oath in using the 
power. I understand, too, that in ordinary and 
civil administration this oath even forbids me to 
practically indulge my primary abstract judgment 
on the moral question of slavery. I had publicly 
declared this at many times and in many ways. 
And I aver that, to this day, I have done no offi- 
cial act in mere deference to my abstract judgment 
and feeling on slavery. I did understand, how- 
ever, that my oath to preserve the Constitution to 
the best of my ability imposed upon me the duty 
of preserving, by every indispensable means, that 
Government — that nation — of which the Consti- 
tution was the organic law. Was it possible to 
lose the nation, and yet preserve the Constitution? 
IBy general law, life and limb must be protected ; 
yet often a limb must be amputated, to save a life ; 



264 ciiips FEO:,i the white iioupe. 

but a life is never wisely given to save a limb. I 
felt that measures, otherwise unconstitutional, 
might become lawful by becoming indispensable to 
the preservation of the Constitution, through the 
preservation of the nation. Eight or wrong, I as- 
sumed this ground ; and now avow it. I could 
not feel that, to the best of my ability, I had even 
tried to preserve the Constitution, if, to save 
slavery, or any minor matter, I should permit the 
wreck of government, country, and constitution 
all together. ... I add a word which was not iu 
the verbal conversation. In telling this tale, I at- 
tempt no compliments to my own sagacity. I 
claim not to have controlled events, but confess 
plainly that events have controlled me. Now at 
the end of three years' struggle the nation's con- 
dition is not what either party or any man devised 
or expected. God alone can claim it. Whither 
it is tending seems plain. If God now wills the 
removal of a great wrong, and wills also that wc 
of the North, as well as you of the South, shall 
pay fairly for our complicity in that wrong, impar- 
tial history will Hnd therein new causes to attest 
and revere the justice and goodness of God." 



abeaha:,! lixcol:?^. 2fi5 



[From Carpenter's " Six IMonths at the "White Ilonse." 
18G5.] 

I put the draft of the Emancipation Proclama- 
tion* aside, "waiting for a victory. Well, the next 
news we had was of Pope's disaster at Bull Run. 
Things looked darker than ever. Finally came 
the Aveek of the battle of Antietam [September 17, 
1862]. I determined to wait no longer. The 
news came, I think, on Monday, that the achan- 
tage was on our side. I was then staying at the 
Soldiers' Home. Here I linishecl writins; the sec- 
ond draft of the proclamation ; came up on Satur- 
day ; called the cabinet together to hear it, and it 
was pul)lished the following Monday. I made a 
solemn vow before God, that if General Lee vras 
driven back from ISIaryland, I would crown the 
result by the declaration of freedom to the slaves. 

As affairs have turned, it is the central act of 
my administration, and the great event of the 
nineteenth century. 

[From Noah Brooks's " Reminiscences."] 

I should be the most presumptuous blockhead 
upon this footstool, if I, for one daj^, thought that 
I could dischanre the duties which h;ive come ut)o?i, 

* The oriuinal draft vas prej:;ar<Hl in the .July preceding 
when the Fedeml forces wore in the micls^t of reverses. 



266 CHIPS FEOM THE "WHITE HOUSE. 

me since I came into this place, without the aid 
and enlightenment of One, who is stronger and 
wiser than all others. 

[From " Six Months," &c.] 

I have never united myself to any church, be- 
cause I have found difficulty in giving my assent, 
without mental reservation, to the long, compli- 
cated statements of Christian doctrine which char- 
acterize their Articles of Belief and Confessions of 
Faith. When any church will inscribe over its 
altar, as its sole qualification for membership, the 
Saviour's condensed statement of the substance 
of both law and gospel, " Thou shalt love the Lord 
thy God with all thy heart, and Avith all thy soul, 
and with all thy mind, and thy neighbor as thy- 
self," that church will I join with all my heart and 
all my soul.* 

You say your husband is a religious man ; tell 
him, when you meet him, that I say I am not 
much of a judge of religion, but that, in my opin- 
ion, the religion which sets men to rebel and fight 
against their government, because, as they think, 
that government does not sufficiently help some 
men to eat their bread in the sweat of o^Aer men's 

* Said to Hon. II. C. Demin":. 



ABKATIAJr LIXCOLN. 267 

faces, is not the sort of religion upon which people 
can get to heaven.* 

Here are twenty-three ministers, [of Spring- 
field, Illinois,] of different denominations, and all 
of them are against me f but three ; and here are 
a great many prominent members of the churches, 
a xery large majority are against me. Mr. Bate- 
man, I am not a Cln-istian, — God knows I would 
be one, — but I have carefully read the Bible, and 
I do not so understand this book.| These men 
well know that I am for freedom in the Territories, 
freedom everywhere as free as the constitution and 
the laws will permit, and that my opponents are 
for slavery. They knoiu this, and yet, with this 
book in their hands, in the light of which human 
bondage cannot live a moment, they are going to 
vote against me ; I do not understand it at 
all 

Doesn't it appear strange that men can ignore 
the moral aspect of this contest? A revelation 
could not make it plainer to me that slavery or 
the government mast be destroyed. The future 
would be something awful, as I look at it, but for 
this rock on which I stand, [alluding to the Testa- 

* Said to a lady from Tennessee, who asked the release 
of her husband, N. Brook, hold as prisoner of war. 
t In the canvass for United States senator. 
J He had in his hand a copy of tlie New Testament. 



2G8 CHirs FKOM Tin' white house. 

ment, which he still held in his hand,] especially 
with the knowledge of how these ministers are 
going to vote. It seems as if God had borne with 
this thing [slavery] until the very teachers of reli- 
gion had come to defend it from the Bil)le, and to 
claim for it a divine character and sanction ; and 
now the cup of iniquity is full, and the vials of 
wrath will be poured out.* 

[With reference to a remark made by a lady: " Some men 
seem able to do waat they wish in any position, beinsT 
equal to them all," Mr. Lincoln replied] : 

Versatility is an injurious possession, since it 
can never he greatness. It misleads you in your 
calculations from its very agreeability, and it inev- 
itably disappoints you in any great trust from its 
want of depth. A versatile man, to be safe from 
execration, should never soar; mediocrity is sure 
of detection. c. 

There is no more dangerous or expensive anal- 
ysis than that of tiying a man. c. 

[From an article in tlie New Fork Citizen, hj Colonel 
Charles G. Ilalpine, containing an account of an inter- 
view with President Lincoln. The reference is to pres- 
idential receptions.] 
But the office of President is essentially 

a civil one. For myself, I feel — though the tax 

* Said privately to jMr. Newton Bateman, Superintendent 
for Public Institutions f<n' the State of Illinois, residing at 
Springfield. — Holland's Life of Abraham Lincoln. 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 269 

on my time is heavy — that no hours of my day 
are better employed than those which thus bring 
me again within the direct contact and atmosphere 
of the average of our whole people. Men moving 
only in an official circle are apt to liecome merely 
official — not to say arbitrary — in their ideas, and 
are apter and apter, with each passing day, to for- 
get that they only hold power in a representative 
capacity. Now this is all wrong. I go into these 
promiscuous receptions of all who claim to have 
business with me twice each week, and every ap- 
plicant for audience has to take his turn, as if 
waiting to be shaved in a barber's shop. Many 
of the matters brought to my notice are utterly 
frivolous, but others are of more or less impor- 
tance, and all seem to renew in me a clearer and 
more vivid image of that great popular assemblage 
out of which I sprung, and to which, at the end 
of two years, I must return. I tell you that I 
call these receptions my public-opinion baths; for 
I have but little time to read the papers, and 
gather public opinion that way ; and though they 
may not be pleasant, in all their particulars, the 
effiact, as a whole, is renovating and invigorating 
to m}^ perceptions of responsibility and duty. 

[In reply to the rem;irk of <a clor£:ynian that he " hoped the 
J.onl was on our sitle," i\Ii'. Lincoln said] : 

I am not at all concerned about that, for I know 
that the Lord is always on the side of the risfht. 



270 crups FROM the ^\^^ITE house. 

But it is my constant anxiety and prayer that I 
and this nation should be on ihe Lord's side. c. 

[After the repeal of the Fugitive-shxve law, in June, 18G4, 
Mr. Lincoln said] : 

" There have been men base enough to propose 
to me to return to slavery our black warriors of 
Port Hudson and Olustee, and thus Avin the respect 
of the masters they fought. Should I do so, I 
should deserve to be damned in time and eternity. 
Come what will, I will keep my faith with friend and 
foe. My enemies pretend I am now carrying on 
this war for the sole purpose of abolition. So long 
as I am President it shall be carried on for the sole 
purpose of restoring the Union ; but no human 
power can subdue this rebellion without the use 
of the emancipation policy, and every other policy 
calculated to Aveaken the moral and physical forces 
of the rebelUon." 

[In the Annual Message to Congi'ess, December 6, 1861, Mr. 
Lincoln said] : 

"In presenting the abandonment of armed re- 
sistance to the national authority on the part of 
the insurgents as the only indispensal)le condition 
to ending the war on the part of the government, 
I retract nothing heretofore said as to slavery. 

"I repeat the declaration made a }'ear ago, that 
while 1 remain in my present position I shall not 
attempt to retract or modify the Emancipation 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 271 

Proclamation. Nor shall I return to slavery any 
person who is free by the terms of that proclama- 
tion or by any of the acts of Congress. If the 
people should, by whatever mode or means, make 
it an executive duty to re-enslave such persons, 
another, and not I, must be their instrument to 
perform it. In stating a single condition of peace, 
I mean simply to say that the war will cease on 
the part of the government whenever it shall have 
ceased on the part of those who began it." 

[Of his second inaugural address, the London Spectator 
said : " We cannot read it without a renewed conviction that 
it is the noblest political document known to history, and 
should have for the nation and the statesmen he left behind 
him something of a sacred and almost prophetic character. 
Surely, none was ever written under a stronger sense of the 
reality of God's government. And certainly none written 
in a jwriod of passionate conilict ever so corai^letely ex- 
cluded the pai'tiality of victorious faction, and breathed 
so pure a strain of mingled justice and mercy." 

" No statement of the true objects of the war more com- 
plete than this has ever been made. It includes them all — 
Nationality, Liberty, Equal Rights, and Self-Government. 
These are the principles for which the Union soldier fought, 
and which it was his aim to maintain and to perpetuate." — 
President Hayes, September, 1878. 

Of ^Ir. Lincoln's second inaugural, M. Edouard Labou- 
laye saitl: " Ilis inaugural address shows us what 2irogi-ess 
liad been made in his soul. This piece of fiimiliar elo- 
quence is a masteri^iece ; it is the testament of a patriot. 
... I do not believe that any eulogy of the President 



272 CHirs rnoM the aviiite house. 

would equal this pa;:re, in Avhicli Ik; has depicted himself in 
all his greatness and in all his simplicity."] 

[Second Inaugural Address. ]March 4, 1865.] 

Fellow Countrymen : At this second ajipearing 
to take the oath of the Presidential office, there is 
less occasion for an extended address than there 
was at the first. Then a statement somewhat in 
detail of a course to bo pursued seemed very 
fitting and proper. Now, at the expiration of 
four years, during which i:)ublic declarations 
have 1)een constantly called forth on ever}^ point 
and pliase of the great contest which still absorbs 
the attention and euOTOsses the enermes of the 
nation, little that is new could be presented. 

The progress of our arms, upon which all else 
chiefly depends, is as well known to the public as 
to mj'self ; and it is, I trust, reasonably satisfactory 
and encouraging to all. With high hope for the 
future, no prediction in regard to it is ventured. 

On the occasion corresponding to this, four 
yeiirs ago, all thoughts were anxiously directed 
to an impending civil Mar. All dreaded it ; all 
sought to avoid it. While the inaugural address 
was being delivered from this place, devoted alto- 
gether to saving the Union without war, insurgent 
agents Avere in the city, seeking to destroy it with- 
out war, — seeking to dissolve the Union and 
di\"ide the effects hy negotiation. Both parties 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 273 

deprecated war ; but one of them vrould make war 
rather than let the nation survive, and the other 
would accept war rather than let it perish ; and 
the war came. 

One eighth of the whole population were colored 
slaves, not distributed generally over the Union, 
but localized in the Southern part of it. These 
slaves constituted a peculiar and powerful interest. 
All knew that this interest was somehow the cause 
of the war. To strengthen, perpetuate, and ex- 
tend this interest, was the ol)ject for T\'hic'h the 
insurgents would rend the Union, even hy war, 
■while the government claimed no right to do more 
than to restrict the territorial enlargement of it. 

Neither party expected for the war the magni- 
tude or the duration which it has already attained. 
Neither anticipated that the cause of the conlli('t 
might C€ase v.^ith, or even before the conflict itself 
should cease. Each looked for an easier triumph, 
and a result less fundamental and astounrling. 

Both read the same Biljle, and pray to the same 
God, and each invokes his aid against the other. 
It may seem strange that any men should dare to 
ask a just God's assistance in wringing their bread 
from the sweat of other men's faces ; but let us 
judge not, that we be not judged. The pra3'er of 
both could not l)c answered. That of neither has 
been answered fully. The Almighty has his own 
purposes. "Woe unto the world because of of- 

18 



274 CHIPS FROM THE WHITE HOUSE. 

fences, for it must needs be that oifcnces come ; 
but woe to that man by whom the offence cometh." 
If we shall suppose that American slavery is one 
of these offences which, in the providence of God, 
must needs come, but which, having continued 
through his appointed time, he now wills to re- 
move, and that he gives to both North and South 
this terrible war as the woe due to those by whom 
the offence came, shall we discern therein any de- 
parture from those divine attriljutes which the 
believers in a living God always ascribe to him ? 

Fondly do we hope, fervently do we pray, that 
this mighty scourge of war may soon pass away. 
Yet if God wills that it continue until all the 
wealth piled by the bondman's two hundred and 
fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and 
until every drop of blood drawn with the lash 
shall be paid with another drawn with the sword ; 
as was said three thousand years ago, so still it 
must be said, "The judgments of the Lord are 
true and righteous altogether." 

With malice toward none, with charity for all, 
with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see 
the right, let us strive on to finish the work we 
are in, to bind up the nation's wounds, to care for 
him who shall have borne the battle, and for his 
widow and ori)hans, to do all which may achieve 
and cherish a just and a lasting peace among our- 
selves and with all nations. 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 275 

[From an Address, March 7, 1865.] 

I have always thought that all men sliould be 
free ; but if any should be slaves, it should be 
first those who desire it for themselves, and sec- 
ondly, those who desire it for others. 

I have been dri'\'en many times to my knees l)y 
the overwhelmins: conviction that I had nowhere 
else to go. jNIy own wisdom, and that of all about 
Die, seemed insufficient for that day.* 

I do order and declare that all persons held as 
slaves . . . shall be free. . . . And upon this 
act, sincerely believed to l^e an act of justice, 
warranted by the Constitution upon military ne- 
cessity, I invoke the considerate judgment of 
manldnd and the gracious favor of Almighty 
God. 

[The Emancipation Proclamation in the Cabinet. From 
the Diary of Secretary Salmon P, Chase, September 22, 
18G2.] 

Gentlemen, — I have, as you are aware, thought a 
great deal about the relation of this war to slavery, 
and you all remember that, several weeks ago, I 
read to you an order I had prepared upon the sub- 
ject, which, on account of objections made by 
some of 30U, was not issued. Ever since then 

* From Holland's " Life of Lincoln." 



276 CHIPS FHOM THE WHITE HOUSE. 

my mind has been occupied with this subject, and 
I have thouo-ht all alono- that the time for actins: 
on it might proljably come. I think the time has 
come now. I wish it was a better time. I wish that 
we were in a better condition. The action of the 
army against the rel)els has not been quite what I 
should have best liked. But they have been driven 
out of Maryland, and Pennsylvania is no longer in 
danger of invasion. When the rebel army was at 
Frederick, I determined, as soon as it shoidd be 
driven out of I\Iaryland, to issue a proclamation 
of emancipation, such as I thought most likely to 
be useful. I said nothing to any one, but I made 
a promise to myself and [hesitating a little] to 
my Maker. The rebel army is now driven out, 
and I am going to fulfil that promise. I ha^■e got 
you together to hear what I have written down. 
I do not wish your advice about the main matter, 
for that I have determined for myself. This I say 
without intending anything but respect for any 
one of you. But I already knoAv the views of 
each on this question. They have been heretofore 
expressed, and I have considered them as thor- 
oughly and carefully as I can. What I have 
written is that which my reflections have deter- 
mined me to say. If there is anything in the ex- 
pressions I use, or in any minor matter, which any 
one of you thinks had best be changed, I shall be 
glad to receive your suggestions. One other ob- 



ABRAHAM LINCOLIS^. 277 

servation I "will niake. I know very well that 
many others mip:ht, in this matter as in others, 
do better than I can ; and if I was satisfied that 
the public confidence was more fully possessed by 
any one of them than by me, and knew of any 
constitutional way in which he could be put in my 
place, he should have it. I would gladly yield it 
to him. But though I believe that I have not so 
much of the confidence of the people as I had 
sometime since, I do not know that, all things con- 
sidered, any other person has more ; and, however 
this may be, there is no way in which I can have 
any other man put where I am. I am here. I 
must do the best I can, I bear the responsibility 
of taking the course which I feel I ouii'ht to take. 

[From " Six Months," etc.] 

IMany of my strongest supporters urged eman- 
cipation before I thought it indispensable, and, I 
may say, before I thought the country ready for it. 
It is ni}' conviction, that, had the i)roclamntion 
been issued even six months earlier than it was, 
public sentiment would not have sustained it. 
Just so as to the subsequent action in reference to 
enlisting blacks in the Border States. The step, 
taken sooner, could not, in my judgment, have 
been carried out. A man watches his pear-tree 
day after day, impatient for the ripening of the 
fruit. Let him attempt to force the process, and 



278 CHIPS FROil THE WHITE HOUSE. 

he may spoil l)otli fruit and tree. But let him 
patiently wait, and the rij^e pear at length falls 
into his lap ! We have seen this great revolution 
in public sentiment slowly but surely progressing, 
so that, when final action came, the opposition was 
not strong enough to defeat the purpose. I can 
now solemnly assert that I have a clear conscience 
in regard to my action on this momentous ques- 
tion. I have done what no man could have helped 
doing, standing in my place. 

[Dedicatory Address at Gettysburg.*] 
Four score and seven years ago our fathers 
brought forth upon this continent a new nation, 
conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the propo- 
sition that all men are created equal. 

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing 
whether that nation, or any nation so conceived 
and so dedicated, can long endure. AVe are met 
on a great battle-field of that war. We are met 
to dedicate a portion of it as the final resting-place 
of those who here gave their lives that that nation 
might live. It is altogether fitting and proper 
that Ave should do this. 

* " His brief speecb at Gettysburg will not easily l^e sur- 
passed by words on any recorded occasion. This, ;ind one 
American speech, — that of John Brown to tlie court that 
tried him, — and part of Kossuth's speech at Birmingham, 
can only be compared with each other, and with no fourth." 
— R. W. Emerson. 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 279 

But in a larger sense we cannot dedicate, we 
cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow this ground. 
The brave men, living and dead, who struggled 
here, have consecrated it far above our power to 
add or detract. The world will little note nor 
long remember what we say here, but it can never 
forget what they did here. It is for us the living 
rather to be dedicated here to the unfinished work 
that they have thus far so nobly carried on. It 
is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great 
task remaining before us — that from these honored 
dead we take increased devotion to the cause for 
which they here gave the last full measure of 
devotion — that we here highly resolve that the 
dead shall not have died in vain ; that the nation 
shall, under God, have a new birth of freedom, 
and that the government of the people, by the 
people, and for the people, shall not perish from 
the earth. 

[When Mr. Lincoln had ended his speech, which 
had been preceded by a long and eloquent one by 
Edward Everett, he turned and congratulated the 
latter on having succeeded so well. "Ah, Mr. 
Lincoln," was the reply, "how gladly would I 
exchange all my one hundred pages, to have been 
the author of your twenty lines."] 



280 CHIPS FKOM TTIE WHITE HOUSE. 

Executive Maxsiox, Washington, July 13, 1863.* 

To Major General Grant. 

My Dear General : I do not remember that 
you and I ever mot personally. I "write this now 
as a gi-ateliil acknowledgment for the almost 
inestimable service 3^ou have done the country. I 
"vvish to say a word further. When j'ou first 
reached the vicinity of Vicksburg, I thought you 
should do what you finally did, march the troops 
across the Neck, run the batteries, Avith the trans- 
ports, and thus go below. I never had any fixith, 
except a general hope, that you knew better than I 
did ; that the Yazoo Pass Expedition, and the like, 
could succeed. When you got below, and took 
Port Gibson, Grand Gulf and vicinity, I thought 
you should go down the river and join Gen. Banks ; 
and when you turned northward, east of the Big 
Black, I feared it was a mistake. I now wish to 
make a personal acknowledgment that you were 
rioht and I was wrong. 

Yours very truly, A. Lincoln. 

[Written after the Battle of Chattanooga, 1863.] 

To General Grant : . . . Understanthng that 
your lodgment at Chattanooga and at Knoxville 
is now secure, I wish to tender you and all under 
your command my more than thanks, my pro- 

* After the capture of Vicksburg. 



ABRAHAM LIXCOLX. 281 

foundest gratitude for the skill, courage, and per- 
severance with which you and they, over so gi*eat 
difficulties, have eflected the important object. 
God bless you all. 

[To Genenil Grant, April 30, 1861.] 

Lieutexaxt-General Graxt : Not expecting 
to see you before the Spring campaign opens, I 
wish to express, in this way, my entire" satisfaction 
with what you have done up to this time, so far as 
I understand it. The particulars of your plans I 
neither know nor seek to know. 

You are vigilant and self-reliant, and, pleased 
with this, I wish not to obtrude any restraints 
or constraints upon 3^ou. While I am very anx- 
ious that any great disaster or capture of our men 
in great numbers shall be avoided, I know that 
these points are less likely to escape your attention 
than they would be mine. If there be anything 
wanting which is within my power to give, do not 
fail to let me know it. And now, with a brave 
army and a just cause, may God sustain you. 

[In reply to a deputation from the Xational Union 
League, June 8, 1864, who congratulated him upon 
his re-nomination for the Presidency, JNIr. Lincoln 
said:] . . . "I have not permitted myself, gentle- 
men, to conclude that I am the best man in the 
country ; but I am reminded in this connection of 



282 CHIPS FROM THE WHITE HOUSE. 

a story of an old Dutch farmer, who remarked to 
a companion once, that 'it was not best to swop 
horses when crossing streams.' " 

[From a letter written December 11, 1864] : 

" You say you are pra}' ing for the war to end. 
So am I, l)ut I want it to end right. God alone 
knows how anxious I am to see these rivers of 
blood cease to flow ; but they must flow until trea- 
son hides its head." 

It matters not to me whether Shakespeare be 
well or ill acted ; with him the thought sufiices. 

There is one passage of the play of " Hamlet " 
which is very apt to be slurred over by the actor, 
or omitted altogether, which seems to me the 
choicest part of the play. It is the soliloquy of 
the king after the murder. It always sti'uck me 
as one of the finest touches of nature in this world. 

The opening of the play of " King Eichard the 
Third " seems to me often entirely misappre- 
hended. It is quite common for an actor to come 
upon the stage, and, in a sophomoric style, to be- 
gin with a flourish ; 

" Now is the winter of our discontent 
Made glorious summer by this sun of York, 
And all the clouds that lowered upon our house, 
In the deep bosom of the ocean buried." 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 283 

Now this is all wrong. Eichard, remember, 
had been, and was then, plotting the destruction 
of his brothers, to make room for himself. Out- 
wardly, the most loyal to the nev» ly-crowned king, 
secretly, he could scarcely contain his impatience 
at tlm^bstacles still in the way of his own eleva- 
tion. He appears upon the stage, just after the 
crowning of Edward, burning with repressed hate 
and jealousy. The prologue is the utterance of 
the most intense bitterness and satire. 

[From a letter written just before the assassination.] 

I assure you that as soon as the business of this 
war is settled, the Indians shall have my first at- 
tention ; and I will not rest until they shall have jus- 
tice with which both you and they will be satisfied. 

There are some quaint, queer, verses, Avritten, I 
think, by Oliver Wendell Holmes, entitled, " The 
Last Leaf," one of which is to me inexpressibly 
touching : 

" The mossy marbles rest 
On the lips that he has pressed 

In their bloom ; 
And the names he loved to hear 
Have been carved for many a year 
On the tomb." 

For pure pathos, in my judgment, there is noth- 
ing finer than those six lines in the English lan- 
guage. 



284 cHirs FROM the white house. 



ANDREW JOHNSON. 

BORN, 1808 ; DIED, 1875, AGED G7. — ALDEKMAN AT GKEENVILLE, 
TEXN., 1828. — INLIYOR, 1830. —IN THE STATE LEGTSLATURE, 
1835. — AGAIN, 1839. — STATE SENATOR, 1811. - REPRESENTA- 
TIVE TO CONGRESS, 1843. — GOVERNOR OF TENNESSEE. 1S53. 
— RE-ELECTED, 1855. — UNITED STATES SENATOR, 1857.— 
MILITARY GOVERNOR OF TENNESSEE, 1862. — VICE-PRESI- 
DENT, 1865. — PRESIDENT, 1S65-18G9. 

[From a Speech in the United States Senate, March 2, ISGl.] 

SiE, have we reached a point of time at 

which we dare not speak of treason ? Our fore- 
fathers talked about it ; they spoke of it in the Con- 
stitution of the country ; thc}^ defined what treason 
is. Is it an offence, is it a crime, is it an insult, 
to recite the Constitution that was made by Wash- 
ington and his compatriots? 

What does the Constitution define treason to 
be ? " Treason against the United States shall 
consist only in levying war against them, or in 
adhering to their enemies, giving them aid and 
comfort." There it is defined clearly. . . . Who 
is it that has been engaged in conspiracies ? Who 
is it that has been engaged in making war upon 
the United States ? Who is it that has fired upon 



ANDREW JOHNSOX. 285 

our flag? ^Yho is it that has given instructions to 
take your arsenals, to take your forts, to take your 
dock-yards, to seize your custom-houses, and rob 
your treasuries ? Who is it that has been engaged in 
secret conclaves, and issuing orders for the seizure 
of public property in violation of the Constitution 
they were sworn to support ? In the language of 
the Constitution of the United States, are not 
these who have been engaged in this nefarious 
work guilty of treason? 1 will now present a 
fair issue, and I hope it will be fairly met. Show 
me the man who has been en2;ao;ed in these con- 
spiracles ; show me the man who has been sitting 
in these nightly and secret conclaves, plotting the 
overthrow of the government ; shoAV me who has 
fired upon our flag, has given instructions to take 
our forts, our custom-houses, our arsenals, and our 
dock-yards, and I will show you a traitor ! [Ap- 
plause in the galleries, followed by a demand to 
have them cleared.] 

Mr. President, when I was interrupted ... I 
was making a general allusion to treason as de- 
fined in the Constitution of the United States, and 
to those who were traitors and guilty of treason 
within the scope and meaning of the law and the 
Constitution. My proposition was, that if they 
would show me who were guilty of the ofiences I 
have enumerated, I would show them who were 
the <raitors. That being done, were I the Presi- 



286 CHIPS FROM THE WHITE HOUSE. 

dent of the United States, I would do as Thomas 
JeiFerson did in 1806 with Aaron Burr, who was 
charged with treason : I would have them arrested 
and tried for treason ; and, if convicted, l)y the 
Eternal God, they should suffer the penalty of the 
law at the hands of the executioner. Sir, treason 
must be punished. 

[From a Speech at Nashville, 1864.] 

Slavery is dead, and you must pardon me if I 
do not mourn over its dead body ; you can bury it 
out of sight. ... I desire that all men shall have a 
fair start and an equal chance in the race of life, 
and let him succeed who has the most merit. I am 
for emancipation, for two reasons : first, because it 
is right in itself; and second, because in the eman- 
cipation of the slaves we break down an odious and 
dangerous aristocracy. I think that we are freeing 
more whites than blacks in Tennessee. 

In the support and practice of correct principles, 
we can never reach wrong results. 

[Speech, when Governor of Tennessee, Nashville, 1864.] 

Colored Men of Nashville : you have all heard 
of the President's Proclamation, by which he an- 
nounced to the world, that the slaves in a large 
portion of the seceded states were thenceforth and 
forever free. For certain reasons, which seemed 



ANDREW JOHNSON. 287 

wise to the President, the benefits of th;it Procla- 
mation did not extend to you and to your native 
state. Many of you, consequently, were left in 
bondage. The taskmasters scourge was not yet 
broken, and the fetters still galled your limbs. 
Gradually this iniquity has been passing away ; 
but the hour has come when the last vestiges 
of it must be removed. Consequently I, too, 
without reference to the President, or any other 
person, have a proclamation to make ; and, stand- 
ing here upon the steps of the Capitol, with the 
past history of the state to witness, the present 
condition to guide, and its future to encourage me, 
I, Andrew Johnson, do hereby proclaim freedom, 
full, broad, and unconditional, to every man in 
Tennessee. ... I speak now as one who feels 
the world his country, and all who love equal 
rights his friends. I speak, too, as a citizen of 
Tennessee. I am here on my own soil ; and here 
I mean to stay, and fight this great battle of truth 
and justice to the triumphant end. Rebellion and 
slavery shall, by God's good help, no longer pol- 
lute our state. Loyal men, whether white or 
black, shall alone control her destinies ; and when 
this strife, in which we are all engaged, is past, I 
know we shall have a better state of things, and 
shall all rejoice that honest labor shall have the 
fruit of its own industry, and that every man has 
a fair chance in the race of life. 



288 CHIPS FEOM THE WHITE HOUSE. 



[To a delegation of citizens of Now Hampshire, after the 
death of Mr. Lincoln.] 

I have now, as always, an abiding faith in the 
ultimate triumph of justice and right, and I shall 
seek the inspiration and guidance of this faith in 
the assured belief that the present struggle will 
result in the permanent establishment of our gov- 
ernment, and in making us a free, united and 
happy people. This government is now passing 
through a liery, and, let us hope, its last ordeal, — 
one that Avill test its powers of endurance, and will 
determine whether it can do what its enemies have 
denied, — suppress and punish treason 

I know it is easy, gentlemen, for any one who is 
so disposed, to acquire a reputation for clemency 
and mercy. But the public good imperatively 
requires a just discrimination in the exercise of 
these qualities. What is clemency? AVhat is 
mercy ? It may he considered merciful to relieve 
an individual from pain and suffering ; but to re- 
lieve one from the penalty of crime may be pro- 
motive of national disaster. The American people 
must be taught to laiow and understand that trea- 
son is a crime. Arson and murder arc crimes, the 
punishment of which is the loss of liberty and life. 
If, then, it is right in the sight of God to take 
away human life for such crimes, what punishment, 
let me ask j-ou, should be inflicted upon him who 



ANDREW JOHNSON. 289 

is guilty of the atrocious crime of assassinating the 
Chief Magistrate of a great people? I am sure 
there is no one present who has not the answer 
ready upon his lips ! Him, whom we loved, has 
been removed from our midst, ])y the hand of a 
ruthless assassin, and his blessed spirit has gone 
to that bourn whence no traveller returns. If his 
murderer should sutler the severest penalty known 
to the law, what punishment should be mflicted 
upon the assassins who have raised their diiggers 
against the life of a nation, against the hap}:)iness 
and lives of thirty millions of people ? Ti-eason is 
a crime, and must be punished as a crime. It 
must not be regarded as a mere ditierence of polit- 
ical oj)inion. It must not be excused as an unsuc- 
cessful rebellion, to be overlooked and forgiven. 
It is a crime before which all other crimes sink 
into insignificance ; and in saying this, it must not 
be considered that I am influenced by angry or 
revengeful feelino^s. 

Of course, a careful discrimination must be 
observed, for thousands have been involved in this 
rebellion who are only technically guilty of the 
crime of treason. They have been deluded and 
deceived, and have l)een made the victims of the 
more intelligent, artful, and designing men, the 
instigators of this monstrous rebellion. The num- 
ber of this latter class is comparatively small. 
The former may stand acquitted of the crime of 

19 



290 CHIPS FROJI THE "WHITE HOUSE. 

treason — the latter never ; the full penalty of 
their crimes should be visited upon them. To 
the others I would accord amnesty, leniency, and 
mercy. 



[To the 1st Colored Regiment of the District of Columbia, 
October 10, 1865.] 

Liberty is not a mere idea, a mere va- 
gary. . . . Liberty does not consist in doing all 
things as we please ; and there can be no liberty 
without law. In a government of freedom and 
of liberty, there must be law, and there must be 
obedience and submission to the law without re- 
gard to color. Liberty (and may I not call you 
my countrymen ?) consists in the glorious privilege 
of work ; of pursuing the ordinary avocations of 
peace with industry and with economy ; and, that 
beinsr done, all those who have been industrious 
and economical are permitted to appropriate and 
enjoy the products of their own labor. This is 
one of the great blessings of freedom 

Henceforth each and all of you must be meas- 
ured according to your merit. If one man is 
more meritorious than another, they cannot be 
equals ; and he is the most exalted that is the most 
meritorious, without regard to color. And the 
idea of having a law passed in the morning that 
would make a white man a black man before night, 



ANDREW JOHNSON. 291 

and a black man a white man before day, is ab- 
surd. That is not the standard. It is your own 
conduct ; it is your own merit ; it is the develop- 
ment of your own talents and of your own intel- 
lectuality and moral qualities. 



292 CHIPS FROM THE WHITE HOUSE. 



ULYSSES «. GRANT. 

BORN, 1822. — ENTERED WEST POINT JHEITARY ACADEMY, 
1839. — LIEUTENANT IN THE ARMY, 1845. — IN THE MEXICAN 
WAR, 184G-18-17. — CAPTAIN, 1847. — ENGAGED IN BUSINESS, 
1854. — CAPTAIN OF VOLUNTEERS, 18C1. — COLONEL, JUNE 17, 
18G1. — BRIGADIER-GENERAL, AUGUST 23, 18C1. — COIVEMAN- 
DER OF THE MILITARY DIS'ITIICT OF CAIRO, DECEMBER, 
ISei. — TOOK FORT DONELSON, FEBRUARY 15, 1SC2. — COM- 
MANDER OF THE DEPARTMENT OF WESTE'RN TENNESSEE, 
JULY, 18C2. — TOOK VICKSBURG, JULY 4, 1SC3. — MA JOR-GEN- 
ERAL, 18C3. — COMJVIANDER OF THE MILITARY DISTRICT OF 
THE MISSISSIPPI, OCTOBER, 1863. — LIEUTENANT-GENERAL, 
MARCH 1, 1864.— ASSUMED COMMAND OF THE ARjNHES OF 
THE UNITED STATES, MARCH 17, 1864. — CAPTAIN-GENERAL, 
APRIL, 1865. — SECRETARY OF WAR "AD INTERENI," AUGUST 
12, 1867. — PRESIDENT, 1869-1877. 

[At the outbreak of the rebellion, 1861, he said to a friend] : 

The government has educated me for the army. 
What I am, I owe to my country. I have served 
her through one war, and, live or die, will serve 
her through this. — Phelps. 

[To the citizens of Paducah, Kentucky, September 6, 18G1.] 

I have come among you not as an enemy, but 
as your fellow-citizen ; not to maltreat or annoy 
you, but to respect and enforce the rights of all 
loyal citizens. An enemy in rebellion against our 



ULYSSES S. GRANT. 293 

constitutional government has taken possession of, 
and planted its guns on the soil of Kentucky, and 
fired upon you. Columbus and Hickman are in 
his hands. He is moving upon your city. I am 
here to defend you against this enemy, to assert 
the authority and sovereignty of your government. 
I have nothing to do with opinions. I shall deal 
only with anned rebellion and its aiders and abet- 
tors. You can pursue your usual avocations 
"uathout fear. The strong ami of the government 
is here to protect its friends, and punish its ene- 
mies. Whenever it is manifest that you arc able 
to defend j^ourselves, and to maintain the authority 
of the government, and protect the rights of loyal 
citizens, I shall withdraw the forces under my 
command. 

[General Biickner, of the Confederate army at Fort Donel- 
son, having sent a letter to General Grant, February 16, 
18G2, proposing " the appointment of Commissioners, to 
agree upon terms of capitulation," General Grant re- 
plied the same day.] 

Yours of this date proposing an armistice and 
the appointment of commissioners to settle on the 
teiTDS of capitulation, is just received. 

Xo terms, except unconditional and immediate 
surrender, can be accepted. 

I propose to move immediately on your works. 
I am, very respectfully. 

Your obedient servant. 



294 CHIPS FROM THE WHITE HOUSE. 



[After Mr. Lincoln''s Emanciiiation Proclamation, General 
Grant issued the folloAving order] : 

Milliken's Bend, Louisiana. 

Corps, division, and post commanders 

will afford all facilities for the completion of the 
nesTO reo-iments now oro:anizin2: in this depart- 
ment. Commissioners will issue supplies, and 
quarter-masters will furnish stores, on the same 
requisitions and returns as are required for other 
troops. It is expected that all commanders will 
especially exert themselves in canying out the 
policy of the Administration, not only in organiz- 
ina: colored res-iments and renderins^ them efficient, 
but also in removing prejudices against them. 

[From a letter to General Banks, with reference to Vicks- 
bm-g. May 25, 1863.] 

I feel that my force is abundantly strong 

to hold the enemy where he is, or to whip him 
should he come out. The place is so strongly for- 
tihcd, however, that it cannot be taken without 
either a great sacrifice of life or by a regular siege. 
I have determined to adopt the latter course, and 
save my men. 



ULYSSES 8. GRANT. 295 



[To a proposition of General Pemberton, July 3, I860, for 
" an armistice for — hours, with a view to arranging 
terms for the capitulation of Vicksburg, ... to save tha 
further effusion of blood," General Grant replied tho 
same day] : 

General : Your note of this date [July 3] 
just received proposes an armistice of several 
hours for the purpose of arranging tcmis of capitu- 
lation through commissioners to be appointed, etc. 
The effusion of blood you propose stopping by 
this course can be ended at any time you may 
choose, by an unconditional surrender of the city 
and garrison. Men who have shown so much en- 
durance and courao-e as those now in Vicksburjr 
will also challenge the respect of an adversary, 
and, I can assure you, will be treated with all the 
respect due to them as prisoners of war. I do 
not favor the proposition of appointing commis- 
sioners to arrange terms of capitulation, because 
I have no other terms than those indicated above. 

I am, General, very respectfully, your obedient 
servant. 

On the afternoon of the same day (July 3) Gen. 
Pemberton sought an interview with Gen. Grant, 
and said : " General Grant, I meet you in order 
to arrange terms for the capitulation. What terms 
do 3'ou demand ? " 

" Unconditional surrender," was General Grant's 
reply. 



296 , CHIPS FRni THE WHITE HOUSE. 

Pemberton rejoined : " Unconditional surren- 
der ! Never, so long as I have a man left me. 1 
•will fight rather." 

General Grant replied, "Very well." 
On July 4, came the following from Pember- 
ton : " General, I have the honor to acknowledge 
the receipt of your communication of this date, 
and, in reply, to say that the terms proposed by 
you are accepted." 

[When recommending (1863) Sherman and McPherson for 
promotion to the rank of Brigadier-General in the reg- 
ular army, General Grant wrote] : 

" The first reason for this is their gi'eat fitness 
for any command that it may ever become neces- 
sary to intrust to them. Second, their great 
purity of character and disinterestedness in any- 
thing except the faithful performance of their duty 
and the success of every one engaged in the great 
battle for the preservation of the Union. Thu*d, 
they have honorably won this distinction upon 
many well-fought battle-fields. The promotion of 
such men as Shennan and McPherson always adds 
strength to our army." 

[To a letter from Secretary Chase (July 4, 1863) , 
in which he says : " I find that a rigorous line 
within districts occupied by our military forces, 
from beyond which no cotton or other produce can 
be brought, and mthin which no trade can be 



LXYSSES S. GRAXT. 297 

carried on, gives rise to serious and to some 
apparently well-founded complaints." Gen. Grant 
replied] : 

My experience in West Tennessee has 

convinced me that any trade whatever with the 
rebel states is weakening to us of at least thirty- 
three per cent, of our force. Xo matter what the 
restrictions thrown around trade, if any whatcAcr 
is allowed, it will be made the means of supplying 
the enemy with what they want. Eestrictious, if 
lived up to, make trade unproiitable, and hence 
none ])ut dishonorable men go into it. I will ven- 
ture to say that no honorable man has made money 
in "Western Tennessee in the last year, while many 
fortunes have been made there during that time. 

The people in the Mississippi valley are now 
nearly sulijugated. Keep trade out for a few 
months, and I doul)t not that the w^ork of subjuga- 
tion Avill be so complete, that trade can be opened 
freely with the States of Arkansas, Louisiana, and 
Mississippi ; that the people of these States will be 
more anxious for the enforcement and protection 
of our laws than the people of the loyal States. ^ 
They have experienced the misfortune of being 
without them, and are now in a most happy con- 
dition to appreciate their blessings. 

No theory of my own will ever stand in the wa}' 
of my executing, in good faith, any order I may 
receive from those in authority over me ; but my 



208 CHIP'' FROM THE WHITE HOUSE. 

position has given me an opportunity of seeing 
what would not be known hy persons away from 
the scene of war ; and, I venture, therefore, to 
suggest great caution in opening trade with rebels. 

ViCKSBURG, July 11, 1863. 

"I am anxious to get as man}'- of these negro 
regiments as possible, and to have them full, and 
completely equipped. ... I am particularly de- 
sirous of organizing a regiment of heavy artillery 
from the negroes, to garrison this place, and shall 
do so as soon as possible." 

ViCKSBURG, July 24. 

The negro troops are easier to preserve discipline 
among than our white troops, and I doubt not will 
prove equally good for garrison duty. All that 
have been tried have fought bravely. 

[In 1863, hearing that some negro troops in the service of 
the United States had been hung at IMilliken's Bend, 
General Grant wrote to General Richard Taylor] : 

I feel no inclination to retaliate for the offences 
of irresponsible persons ; but if it is the policy of 
any General intrusted with the command of troops 
to show no quarter, or to punish with death pris- 
oners taken in battle, I will accept the issue. It 
may be you propose a different line of policy 
towards black troops, and officers conmaanding 
them, to that practiced towards white troops. If 



ULYSSES S. GRANT. 299 

SO, I can assure you that these colored troops are 
regularly mustered into the sei-vice of the United 
States. The Government, and all officers under 
the Government, are bound to give the same pro- 
tection to these troops that they do to any othei 
troops. 

General Orders, No. 50, Vicksburg, August 1, 1SG3. 

2. The citizens of Mississippi within 

the limits above described, are called upon to 
pursue their peaceful avocations, in obedience to 
the laws of the United States. Whilst doing so in 
good faith, all the United States forces are pro- 
hibited from molesting them in any way. It is 
earnestly recommended that the freedom of negroes 
be acknowledged, and that, instead of compulsory 
labor, contracts on fair terms be entered into 
between the former masters and servants, or 
between the latter and other persons who may be 
willing to give them employment. Such a system 
as this, honestly followed, will result in substantial 
advantages to all parties. 

All private property will be respected, except 
when the use of it is necessary for the government, 
in which case it must be taken under the direction 
of a commissioned officer, with specific instructions 
to seize certain property, and no other. A staff 
officer of the Quartermaster of Subsistence Depart- 
ment will, in each instance, be designated to receipt 



300 CHIPS FROM THE WHITE HOUSE. 

for such property as may l)e seized, the property 
to be paid for at the end of the war on proof of 
loyalty, or on proper adjustment of the claim, 
under such regulations and laws as may hereafter 
be estabhshed. 

4. Within the county of "Warren, laid 

waste by the long presence of contending armies, 
the following rules, to prevent suffering, will be 
observed : Major-General Sherman and JNIajor- 
General McPhcrson will each nominate a Com- 
missary of Subsistence who will issue articles of 
prime necessity to all destitute families calling foi 
them, under such restrictions for the protection of 
the government as they may deem necessary. 
Families who are al)lc to pay for the provisions 
drawn, will in all cases be required to do so. 

[On August 25, 18G3, General Grant visited Mcmpliis, Ten- 
nessee. A committee of loyal citizens having tendered 
him the hospitality of the city, he sent a letter of ac- 
ceptance, in which he said] : 

In accepting this testimonial, which I do at a 
great sacrifice of my personal feelings, I simply 
desire to pay a tribute to the first public exhilji- 
tion in Memphis of loyalty to the government which 
I represent in the Department of the Tennessee, 
I should dishke to refuse, for considerations of 
personal convenience, to acknowledge an^'wherc, oi 
in any form, the existence of sentiments I have sv 
long and so ardently desired to see manifested in 



I 
I 



« 



ULYSSES S. GRANT. 301 

this department. The stability of this government 
and the miity of this nation depend solely on the 
cordial support and the earnest loyalty of the 
people. While, therefore, I thank you sincerely 
for the kind expressions you have used toward 
myself, I am profoundly gratified at this public 
recognition, in the city of Memphis, of the power 
and au^liority of the government of the United 
States. 

[In the Field, Chattanooga, Tenn., December 10, 1863. — 
Congratulatory Order.] 

The General commanding takes this opportu- 
*nity of returning his sincere thanks and congratu- 
lations to the brave armies of the Cumberland, the 
Ohio, and the Tennessee, and theii comrades from 
the Potomac, for their recent splendid and decisive 
successes achieved over the enemy. In a short 
time you have recovered from hin the control of 
the Tennessee River, from Bridgeport to Knox- 
ville. You dislodo-ed him from his great stronohold 
upon Lookout Mountain, drove hi'Ti from Chatta- 
nooga Valley, wrested from his determined gi'asp 
the possession of Missionary Ridge, repelled, with 
heavy loss to him, his repeated assaults upon 
Knoxville, forcing him to raise the siege there ; 
driving him at all points, utterly routed and dis- 
comfited, beyond the limits of the State. By 
your noble heroism and determined courage 
you have most effectually defeated the plans of 



302 CHIPS FROM THE WHITE HOUSE. 

the enemy for regaining possession of the States 
of Kentucky and Tennessee. You have secured 
positions from which no rebellious power can 
drive or dislodge you. For all this, the General 
commanding thanks you, collectively and indi'V'id- 
ually. The loyal people of the United States 
thank and bless you. Their hopes and prayers 
for your success against this unholy rebellion are 
with you daily. Their faith in you will not be in 
vain. Their hopes will not be blasted. Their 
prayers to Almighty God will be answered. You 
will yet go to other fields of strife, and with the in- 
vincible bravery and unflinching loyalty to justice 
and right which have characterized you in the past,* 
you will prove that no enemy can withstand you, 
and that no defence, however formidable, caii 
check your onward march. 

In the Wilderness, Head-quarters in the Field, ) 
May 11, 1864, 8 a. m. 3 

We have now ended the sixth day of very 
heavy fighting. The result, to this time, is very 
much in our favor. Our losses have been heavy, 
as have been those of the enemy. I think the 
losses of the enemy must be greater. 

We have taken over five thousand prisoners by 
battle, while he has taken from us but few, except 
Btras^o-lers. 

I propose to fight it out on this line if it takes 
all summer. 



ULYSSES S. GRANT. 303 

City Point, Vikginia, August 16, 1864, 

To Hon. E. B. Washburne. 

Dear Sir : I state to all citizens who visit me, 
that all we want now to insure an early restora- 
tion of the Union is a determined unity of senti- 
ment North. The rebels have now in their ranks 
their last man. The little boys and old men are 
guarding prisoners, grading railroad bridges, and 
forming a good part of their garrisons for en- 
trenched positions. A man lost by them cannot 
be replaced. They have robbed the cradle and 
the grave equally to get their present force. Be- 
sides what they lose in frequent skirmishes and 
battles, they are now losing from desertion and 
other causes at least one regiment per day. 

With tliis drain upon them the end is not far 
distant, if we will only be true to ourselves. Their 
only hope now is in a divided North. This might 
^We them re-enforcements from Tennessee, Ken- 
tucky, Maryland, and Missouri, while it would 
weaken us. With the draft quickly enforced the 
enemy would become despondent, and would make 
but little resistance. I have no doubt but the 
enemy are exceedingly anxious to hold out until 
after the presidential election. They have many 
hopes from its effects. 

They hope a counter revolution ; they hope the 
election of the Peace candidate. In fact, hke 



304 CHIPS FROM THE WHITE HOUSE. 

" Micawber," they hope for something to " turn 
up." Our Peace friends, if they expect peace 
from separation, are much mistake^. It would be 
but the beginning of war with thousands of 
Northern men johiing the South because of our 
disgrace in allowing separation. To have " peace 
on any terms," the South would demand the res- 
toration of their slaves already freed ; they would 
demand indemnity for losses sustained ; and they 
would demand a treaty which would make the 
JS'orth slave-hunters for the South. They would 
demand pay for the restoration of every slave es- 
caping to the North. 

[Address to all the armies.] 

Wasuington, June 2, 1SG5. 

Soldiers of the Armies of the United 
States : By your patriotic devotion to your coun- 
try in the hour of danger and alarm, your mag- 
nificent lighting, bravery, and endurance, you 
have maintained the supremacy of the Union and 
the Constitution, overthrown all armed opposition to 
the enfr.rcement of the law, and of the proclamatio:a 
forever abolishing slavery, — the cause and pre- 
cept of the rebellion, — and opened the way to 
the rightful authorities to restore order and inaug- 
urate i)eace on a permanent and enduring basis on 
every foot of American soil. Your marches, 
sieges, and battles, in distance, duration, resolu- 



ULYSSES S. GIJAXT. 305 

V'<»D, and brilliancy of results, dim the lustre of 
CL«*=. world's past military achievements, and will be 
?.he patriot's precedent in defence of liberty and 
right in all time to come. In obedience to your 
country's call you left your homes and families, 
and volunteered in its defence. Victory has 
croAvned your valor, and secured the purpose of 
your patriotic hearts ; and with the gratitude of 
your countrymen, and the highest honors a great 
and free nation can jiccord, you will soon be per- 
mitted to return to your homes and families con- 
scious of having discharged the highest duty of 
American citizens. To achieve these glorious 
triumphs, and secure to yourselves, your fellow- 
countrymen, and posterity, the blessings of free 
institutions, tens of thousands of your gallant 
comrades have fallen and sealed the priceless 
legacy with their lives. The graves of these a 
grateful nation bedews with tears, honors their 
memories, and will ever cherish and support their 
stricken fjimilies. 

[Frum the Rejioit of the Opci*ations of the Armies of the 
United States, 1864:-'65.] 

Washington, July 22, 1865. 

From an early period of the rebellion 

I h;i(l boon ini])rL'sse(l witli the idea that active and 
c'onlinuous ()j)orations of all the troops that could 
be brought into the Held, regardless of season and 

20 



306 CHIPS FROM THE WHITE HOUSE. 

weather, were necessary to a speedy termination 
of the war. The resources of the enemy and his 
numerical strength were far inferior to ours ; but, 
as an offset to tliis, we had a vast territory with a 
population hostile to the government to garrison, 
and Ions: lines of river and raih'oad communica- 
tions to protect, to enable us to supply the oper- 
ating armies. 

The armies in the East and West acted inde- 
pendently and without concert, like a balky team, 
no two ever pulling together, enabling the enemy 
to use to great advantage his interior lines of com- 
munication for transporting troops from East to 
West, re-enforcing the army most vigorously 
pressed, and to furlough large numbers, during 
seasons of inactivity on our part, to go to their 
homes and do the work of producing for the sup- 
port of their armies. It Avas a question whether 
our numerical strength and resources were not 
more than balanced by these disadvantages and 
the enemy's superior position. 

From the first I was firm in the conviction that 
no peace could be had that would be staljle and 
conducive to the happiness of the people, both 
North and South, until the military power of tha 
rebellion was entirely broken. 

I therefore determined, first, to use the greatest 
number of troops practicable against the armed 
force of the enemy; preventing him from using 



ULYSSES S. GKAXT. 307 

the same force at different season.'? against first 
one and then another of our armies, and the possi- 
bihty of repose for refitting and producing neces- 
sary supplies for carrying on resistance. Second, 
to hammer continuously against the armed force 
of the eneni}' and his resources, until by mere at- 
trition, if in no other way, there should be nothing 
left to him l)ut an equal submission with the loyal 
section of our common country to the Constitu- 
tion and laws of the land. 

It has been my fortune to see the armies of both 
the West and East fight battles, and from Adiat I 
have seen I know there is no diflference in their 
fighting qualities. All that it was possible for men 
to do in battle they have done. The Western 
annies commenced their bat'les in the Mississippi 
Valley, and received the final surrender of the 
remnant of the principal army opposed to them in 
North Carolina. The armies of the East com- 
menced their battles on the river from which the 
Army of the Potomac derived its name, and 
received the final surrender of their old antasronist 
at Appomattox Court House, Virginia. The 
splendid achievements of each have rationalized 
our victories, removed all sectional jealousies, (of 
which we have unfortunately experienced too 
much,) and the cause of crimination and recrimi- 
nation that mio'ht have followed had either section 



308 CHII'.S FROM THE WHITE HOUSE. 

failed in its duty. All have a proud record, and 
all sections can well coniiratulate themselves and 
each other for liavini? done their full share in 
restoring the supremacy of law over every foot of 
territory belonging to the United States. Let 
them hope for perpetual peace and harmony with 
that enemy, whose manhood, hoAvevcr mistaken 
the cause, drew forth such herculean deeds of valor. 

[When, August 17, 1867, President Johnson ordered Gen- 
eral Grant to remove from command at New Orleans 
General Sheridan, and at the same time asked him to 
make suggestions in regard to the order. General Grant 
replied] : 

I am pleased to avail myself of this invitation 
to urge, earnestly urge, in the name of a i)atriotic 
people who have sacriliced hundreds of thousands 
of loyal lives, and thousands of millions of treasure, 
to preserve the integrity and union of this country, 
that this order l)e not insisted on. It is unmis- 
takably the expressed wish of the country tha^ 
General Sheridan should not be removed from his 
present command. 

This is a re[)ul)lic where the will of the people 
is the law of the land. 1 beg that their voice may 
be heard. 

General Sheridan has performed his civil duties 
faithlVdly and intelligently. His removal will only 
be rei>:arded as an effort to defeat the laws of 
Congress. 



ULYSSES S. GRANT. 309 



[During ILe suspension, for political reasons, of Mr. Stanton 
as Secretary of War, by President Johnson, General 
Grant was appointed Secretary of War, ad interim. 
AVhen the Senate, January 13, 1868, passed a resolution 
of non-concurrence with the suspension. General Grant 
immediately} surrendered the keys of the office, which 
offended Mr. Johnson. A corres^wndence between them 
ensued. General Grant's closing letter is as follows] : 

The course you understood I agreed to pursue 
was in violation of law, and that without orders 
from you ; while the course I did pursue, and 
which I never doubted you fully understood, was 
in accordance with law, and not in disobedience 
of any orders of my superior. 

And now, Mr. President, when my honor as a 
soldier, and integrity as a man, have been so 
violently assailed, pardon me for saying that I can 
but regard this whole matter, from beginning to 
end, as an attempt to involve me in the resistance 
of law for which you hesitated to assume the 
responsibility, in order thus to destroy my char- 
acter before the country. I am in a measure 
confirmed in this conclusion liy your recent orders 
d:recting me to disobey orders from the Secretary 
uf War, my superior, and your subordinate, M'ith- 
out having countermanded his authority. I con- 
clude with the assurance, INIr. President, that 
nothing less than a ^'indication of my personal 
honor and character could have induced this cor- 
respondence on my part. 



310 CHIPS FROM THE ^VHITE HOUSE. 

[From his Inaugural Address, March 4, 1869.] 

Citizens of the Uxited States : Your suffrages 
havino; elected me to the office of President of the 
United States, I have, in conformity with the Con- 
stitution of our country, taken the oath of office 
prescribed therein. I have taken this oath without 
mental reservation, and with a determination to 
do, to the best of my ability, all that it requires 
of me. 

The responsibilities of the position I feel, but 
accept them without fear. The office has come to 
me unsought ; I commence its duties untram- 
melled. I bring to it a conscious desire and deter- 
mination to fill it, to the best of my ability, to the 
satisfaction of the people. On all leading ques- 
tions agitating the pul)lic mind I will always ex- 
press my views to Congress, and urge them accord- 
ing to my judgment, and when I tliink it advisable, 
will exercise the constitutional privilege of inter- 
posing a veto to defeat measures wliich I oppose. 
But all laws will be faithfully executed, whether 
they meet my approval or not. 

I shall on all sul)jccts have a policy to recom- 
mend, none to enforce against the will of the peo- 
ple. Laws are to govern all ahke — those opposed 
to as well as those in favor of them. I know no 
method to secure the repeal of bad or obnoxious 
laws so effectual as their strict execution 



ULYSSES S. GRANT, 311 

i'. o-reat debt has been contracted in se(?urino' to 
us and our posterity the Union. The payment 
of this, principal and interest, as well as the re- 
turn to a specie basis as soon as it can be accom- 
plished without material detriment to the debtor 
class or to thf. country at large, must be provided 
for. To protect the national honor, every dollar 
of the government indebtedness should be paid in 
gold, unless otherwise especially stipulated in the 
contract. Let it be understood that no repudia^ 
tion of one farthing of our public de1)t will be 
trusted in public places, and it will go far toAvards 
strengthening a credit psrhich ought to be the best 
m the world, and will ultimately enable us to re- 
place the debt with bonds bearing less interest 
than we now pa}". 

[From a Message, December, 1870.] 

As soon as I learned that a Eepublic had 

been proclaimed at Paris, and the people of France 
bad acquiesced in the change, the minister of the 
United States was directed by telegraph to recog- 
nize it, and to tender my congratulations and those 
of the people of the United States. The re-estab- 
lishment in France of a sj^stem of government dis- 
connected with the dynastic traditions of Europe 
appeared to be a proper subject for the feUcitations 
of Americans. Should the present struggle result in 
attacliing the hearts of the French to our simpler 



312 CHIPS Fi:OM TlfE •WHITE HOUSE. 

foiin of representative government, it will be a sub- 
ject of still further satisfaction to our people. "While 
we make no etfoil: to impose our institutions upon 
the inhabitants of other countries, and while we 
adhere to our traditional neutrality in civil contests 
elsewhere, we cannot l)e indifferent to the spread 
of American political ideas in a great and highly 
civilized country like France. 

[From a Message, December, 1871.] 

In Utah there still remains a remnant of 

barbarism repugnant to civilization, to decency, 
and to the laws of the United States. . . . Neither 
polygamy nor any other violation of existing stat- 
utes will be permitted within the territory of the 
United States. It is not with the religion of the 
self-stvled Saints that we are now dealins:, but 
with their j)ractices. They wiD be protected in 
the Avor-ship of God according to the dictates of 
their own consciences, but they will not be per- 
mitted to violate the laws under the cloak of reli- 
gion. 

[From a Message, December 7, 1875.] 

As we are now about to enter upon our 

second centennial — commencinof our manhood as 
a nation — it is well to look back upon the past, 
and study what will be best to presei've and ad- 
vance our future greatness 

We should look to the dangers threatening us, 



ULYSSES S. GRANT. 813 

and remove them as far as lies in our power. We 
are a republic whereof one man is as good as an- 
other before the law. Under such a form of gov- 
ernment, it is of the greatest importance that all 
should be possessed of education and intelligence 
enough to cast a vote with a right understanding 
of its meaninor. A lari^-e association of iiniorant 
men cannot, for any consideral)le period, oppose a 
successful resistance to tyranny and oppression 
from the educated few, but will inevitably sink into 
acquiescence to the will of intelligence, whether 
(hrected by the demagogue or by priestcraft. 
Hence the education of the masses becomes of the 
first necessity for the preservation of our institu- 
tions. They are worth preserving, because they 
have secured the greatest good to the greatest })ro- 
portion of the population of any form of govern- 
ment yet devised. All other fonns of government 
approach it in proportion to the general diffusion 
of education and independence of thought and ac- 
tion. As the principal step, therefore, to our 
advancement in all that has marked our progi'ess 
in the past century, I suggest for youi* earnest con- 
sideration, and most earnestly recommend it, that 
a constitutional amendment be submitted to the 
legislatures of the several States for ratification, 
maldng it the duty of each of the several States 
to establish and forever maintain free pubhc 
schools adequate to the education of all the chil- 



314 CHIPS FROM THE WHITE HOUSE. 

di'en ill the rudimentary branches within their re- 
spective limits, irrespective of sex, color, birthplace 
or relio-ions ; forbiddino- the teachino; in said schools 
of religious, atheistic, or pagan tenets ; and pro- 
hibiting the gi'anting of any school funds or school 
taxes, or any part thereof, either by legislative, 
municipal, or other authority, for the benefit or in 
aid, directly or indirectly, of any religious sect or 
denomination, or in aid or for the benefit of any 
other object of any nature or kind whatever. 



[From a Speech at the Annual Reunion of the Army of the 
Tennessee, at Des Moines, Iowa, September 29, 1875.] 

Comrades : It alwaj's affords me much gratifi- 
cation to meet my old comrades in arms of ten or 
fourteen years ago, and to live over again in mem- 
ory the trials and hardships of those days — hard- 
ships hnposed for the preservation and perpetuation 
of our free institutions. We believed then, and 
believe now, that we had a oood ijovcrnment, worth 
fighting for, and, if need be, dying for. Hoav many 
of our comrades of those days paid the latter price 
for our preserved Union I Let their heroism and 
sacrifices be ever green and in our memory. Let 
not the results of their sacrifices be destroyed. 
The Union and the free institutions for which 
they fell, should be held more dear for their sacri- 
fices. We will not deny to any of those who 



ULYSSES S. GRAXT. 315 

fought against us any privileges under the goyern- 
ment which Ave claim for ourselves ; on the contra- 
ry, vre honor all !-;uch who come forward in good 
faith to help build up the waste i)laces, and to per- 
petuate our institutions against all enemies, as 
brothers in full interest with us in a common heri- 
tage ; but we are not prepared to apologize for the 
part we took in the war. It is to be hoped that 
like trials will never again befall our country. In 
this sentiment no class of people can more heartily 
join than the soldier, who submitted to the dangers, 
trials, and hardships of the camp and the battle- 
field. On whicheve?. sicie they may have fought, 
no class of people are more interested in guarding 
against a recurrence of those days. 

Let us then begin by guarding against every 
enemy threatening the perpetuity of free repulilican 
institutions. I do not bring into this assemblage 
politics, certainly not partisan politics ; but it is a 
fair subject for soldiers in their deliberations to 
consider what 'i:a v be necessary to secure the prize 
for which they battled in a republic like ours. 
Where the citizen is sovereisrn and the official the 
servant, where no power is exercised except by the 
will of the people, it is important that the sover- 
eign — the people — should possess intelligence. 

The free school is the promoter of that intelli- 
gence which is to preserve us as a free nation. If 
we are to have another contest in the near future 



316 CHirs Fi;o:.i the wiiitj: house. 

of o^ur national existence, I predict that the divid- 
ing line will not be Mason and Dixon's, hut between 
patriotism and intelligence on the one sidi:, and 
superstition, ambition, and ignorance on the other. 
Now in this centennial year of oui national exist- 
ence, I believe it a good time to be<iin the work of 
strengthening the foundation of the house com- 
menced by our patriotic forefathers one hundred 
years ago, at Concord and Lexington. Let us 
all labor to add all needful guarantees for the 
more perfect security of free thought, free speech, 
and free press, pure morals, unfettered rehgious 
sentiments, and of equal rights and privileges to 
all men, irrespective of nationality, color, or re- 
ligion. Encourage free schools, and resolve that 
not one dollar of money appropriated to their 
support, no matter how raised, shall be appro- 
priated to the support of any sectarian school. 
Eesolve that the State or Nation, or both combined, 
shall furnish to every child growing up in the land, 
the means of acquiring a good common-school edu- 
cation, unmixed with sectarian, pagan, or atheistic 
tenets. Leave the matter of religion to the family 
altar, the church, and the private school support- 
ed entirely by private contributions. Kee}) the 
church and state forever separate. With these 
safeguards, I believe the battles which created the 
Army of the Tennessee will not have been fought 
in vain. 



ULYSSES S. GRANT. 317 



[Fi'om a I<etter explanatoiy of a passage in the above 
Speech.] 

I feel no hostility to free education going as 
high as the state or national government feels able 
to provide, protecting, however, every child in 
thf> privilege of a common-school education l)e- 
fore public means are applied to a higher educa- 
tion for the few. 

[Froin a Message.] 

In a foniier INlessage to Consress I had occasion 
to consider this question, [the recognition of bel- 
ligerent rights,] and reached the conclusion that 
the conflict in Cuba, dreadful and devastatmg as 
were its incidents, did not rise to the fearful dig- 
nity of war. 

[From a Message, December, 1876.] 

The compulsory support of the free 

schools, and the disfranchisement of all who can- 
not read and write the English language, after a 
iixed probation, would meet my hearty approval.* 

[Veto Message of the Senate Currency Bill.] 

I am not a believer in any artificial method of 
making paper monc}' equal to coin when the coin 

* lie wonkl not have this action retrospective. It should 
apply only to future voters. 



318 CHirS FROM THE WHITE HOUSE. 

is not owned or held ready to redeem the promise 
to pay, for paper money is nothing more thtm 
promises to pay. 

[From a Sjieech at a banquet in the Town-hall, Birming- 
ham, October 17.] 

He [Mr. Chamberlain, M. P.] alluded 

to the o-reat merit of retirino; a larsfe army at the 
close of a great war. If he had ever been in my 
position for four years, and undergone all the 
anxiety and care that I had in the management 
of those large armies, he would appreciate how 
happy I was to be al)le to say that they could be 
dispensed wath. I disclaim all credit and praise 
for doing that one thing. . . . Further, we 
Americans claim to l^e so much of Englishmen, 
and to have so much general intelligence, and so 
much personal independence and individuality, 
that w^e do not quite Ijelieve that it is possil)le for 
any one man there to assume any more right and 
authority than the constitution of the land gave to 
him. Among the English-speaking people w^e do 
not think these things possible. We can fight among 
ourselves, and dispute and abuse each other, but 
we will not allow ourselves to be abused outside ; 
nor will those who look on at our little personal 
quarrels in our own midst permit us to interfere 
with their ow^n rights. — Around the World loiih 
General Grant, by John Russell Young. 



ULYSSES S. GRANT. 319 



[From a Sj^eech, in reply to an Address on behalf of the 
International Arbitration Union, Birmingham.] 



I am conscientiously, and have been 

from the Ijeoinninof, an advocate of what the so- 
ciety represented by you is seeking to carry out ; 
and nothing would afford me greater happiness 
than to know, as I believe will be the case, that, 
at some future day, the nations of the earth will 
agree upon some sort of Congress, which shall 
take cognizance of international questions of diffi- 
culty, and whose decisions will be as binding as 
the decision of our Supreme Court is binding on 
us. It is a dream of mine that some such solution 
may be found for all questions of great difficulty 
that may arise between different nations. In one 
of the addresses reference was made to the dismis- 
sal of the army to the pursuit of peaceful industry. 
I would gladly see the millions of men Avho are 
now supported by the industry of the nations re- 
turn to industrial pursuits, and thus become self- 
sustaining, and take off the tax upon labor wdiich 
is now levied for their support. — A7'ound the 
World. 

[In reply to an Address of tlie Iron-Founders' Society, 
July 3, 1877.] 

I recognize the fact that whatever there 

is of greatness in the United States, or indeed in 
any other country, is due to the labor performed. 



320 CHIPS FROM THE WHITE HOUSE. 

The laborer is the author of all greatness and 
wealth. Without lal)or there would he no govern- 
ment, or no leading class, or nothing to preserve. 
With us labor is regarded as highly res})ectable. 
— jit^oiuid the World. 

[At a lunch in the Guild hall, London, June 16, 1877. After 
having spoken once before, he said] : 

Habits formed in early life and early education 
press upon us as we grow older. I am not aware 
that I ever fought t"vvo battles on the same day in 
the same place, and that I should be called upon 
to make two speeches on the same day under the 
same roof is beyond ni}^ understanding. What I 
do understand is, that I am much indel^ted to all 
of you for the compliments you have paid me. 
All I can do is to thank the Lord Mayor for his 
kind words, and to thank the citizens of Great 
Britain here present in the name of my country 
and for myself. 



[Later in the day, at a dinner in tlie Crystal Palace, Mr. 
Thomas Hughes proposed the health of General Grant, 
adding that he did not impose the burden of a reply. 
General Grant, however, said] : 

INIr. Hughes, I must none the less tell you what 
gratilication it gives me to hear my health pro- 
posed in such hearty words by Tom Brown, of 
Ruii'bv. — Around the World. 



ULYSSES S, GRANT. 321 



[A Speech at a dinner-party at Hamburg, of American la- 
dies and gentlemen, J uly 4, 1878.] 

Mr. Consul akd Friends : I am much obliijo 1 
to you for the Idnd manner in which you ch'ink my 
health. I share with you in all the pleasure and 
gratitude which Americans so far from home should 
feel on this anniversary. But I must di-ssent from 
one remark of our consul, to the effect that I saved 
the country during the recent war. If our country 
could be saved or ruined by the efforts of any one 
man we should not have a country, and we should 
not be now celebrating our Fourth of July. There 
are many men who would have done far better 
than I did under the circumstances in which I 
found myself during the war. If I had never held 
command ; if I had fallen ; if all our generals had 
fallen, there were ten thousand behind us who 
would have done our work just as well, who would 
have followed the contest to the end, and never 
surrendered the Union. Therefore it is a mistake, 
and a reflection upon the people, to attribute to 
me, or to any number of men who held high com- 
mand, the salvation of the Union. We did our 
work as well as we could, and so did hmidreds of 
thousands of others. "We deserve no credit for it, 
for we should have been unworthy of our country 
and of the American name, if we had not mado 
every sacrifice to save the Union. ^Y]mt saved 



322 CHIPS FROM THE WHITE HOUSE. 

the Union was the coming forward of the young 
men of the nation. They came from their homes 
and fields, as they did in the time of the Revolu- 
tion, giving everything to the country. To tlieir 
devotion we owe the salvation of the Union. The 
humblest soldier who carried a musket is entitled 
to as much credit for the results of the war as 
those who were in command. So long as our 
young men are animated by this spirit there will 
be no fear for the Union. — Ai^ound the Woi^ld. 

"With a people as honest and proud as the Am- 
ericans, and with so much common-sense, it is 
always a mistake to do a thing not entirely right 
for the sake of expediency. — Around the World. 

When I was in the ai-my I had a physique that 
could stand anything. Whether I slept on the 
ground or in a tent, whether I slept one hour or 
ten in the twenty-four, whether I had one meal 
or three, or none, made no difference. I could he 
down and sleep in the ram without caring. But I 
was many years younger, and I could not hope to 
do that noAV. — Arouyid the World. 

The only eyes a general can trust are his own. 
— Around the World. 

I never saw the President [Lincoln] until he 
gave me my commission as Lieutenant-general. 



ULYSSES 8. GRANT. 323 

Afterwards I saw him often, either in Washington 
or at head-quarters. Lincohi, I may ahiiost say, 
spent the last days of his life with me. I often 
recall those days. He came down to City Point 
in the last month of the war, and was with me all 
the time. He lived on a dispatch-boat in the 
river, but was always around head-quarters. He 
was a line horseman, and rode my horse Cincin- 
nati. He visited the different camps, and I did all 
I could to interest him. He was ver}^ anxious 
about the war closing ; was afraid we could not 
stand a new campaign, and wanted to be around 
when the crash came. 

I have no doubt that Lincoln will be the con- 
spicuous figure of the war ; one of the great figures 
of history. He was a great man, a very great 
man. The more I saw of him, the more this im- 
pressed me. He was incontestably the greatest 
man I ever knew. What marked him especially 
was his sincerity, his kindness, his clear insight 
into affairs. Under all this he had a firm will, 
and a clear policy. People used to say that 
Seward swayed him, or Chase, or Stanton. This 
^vas a 'nistake. He might appear to go Seward's 
\v!^.y one da}^, and Stanton's another, liut all the 
time he was going his own course, and they with 
him. It Avas that gentle firmness in caiTying out 
his own will, without apparent force or friction, 
that foiTued the basis of his character. He was a 



324 CHIPS FROM THE WHITE HOUSE. 

wonderful talker and teller of stories. It is said 
his stories were improper. I ha\'e heard of them, 
but I never heard Lincoln use an im))roper word 
or phrase. I have sometimes, when I hoar his 
memory called in question, tried to recall such a 
thing, but I cannot. 1 always found him pre- 
eminently, a clean-minded man. I regard these 
stories as exaggerations. Lincoln's power of il- 
histration, his humor, was inexhaustible. He had 
a story or an illustration for everything. — Arnund 
the Wordd. 

I would deal with nations as equitable law re- 
quires individuals to deal with each other. 

I knew Stonewall Jackson at West Point and in 
Mexico. At AVest Point he came into the school 
at an older age than the average, and began with a 
low gi'adc. But he had so much courage and 
energy, worked ^o hard, and governed his life by 
a discipline so stern, that he steadilj^ worked his 
way along and rose far above others who had more 
advantages. Stonewall Jackson at West Point 
Avas in a state of constant improvement. He was 
a religious man then, and some of us regarded liim 
as a fanatic. Sometimes his religion took strange 
forms — hypochondria — fancies that an Evil Spirit 
had taken possession of him. But he never re- 
laxed in his studies or his Christian duties. I 
knew him in Mexico. He was alway* a brave and 



ULYSSES S. GRANT. 325 

trustworth}^ officer, — none more so in the aniiy. I 
never knew him or encountered him in the rebellion. 
1 question whether his campaigns in Virginia justify 
his reputation as a great commander. He was 
killed too soon, and hcfore his rank allowed him 
a jrreat conunand. It would have lieen a test of 
generalship if Jackson had met Sheridan in the 
Valley, instead of some of the men he did meet. 
From all I know of Jackson, and all I see of his 
campaigns, I have little .doubt of the result. If 
Jackson had attempted on Sheridan the tactics he 
attempted so successfully upon others he would 
not only have been beaten but destro3'ed. Sudden 
daring raids, under a fine general like Jackson, 
might do against raw troops and inexperienced 
commanders, such as we had in the beginning of 
the war, but not against chilled troops and a com- 
mander like Sheridan. The tactics for which 
Jackson is famous, and which achieved such re- 
markable results, belonged entirely to the beginning 
of the Avar and to the peculiar conditions under 
which th(; earlier battles were fought. They would 
have ensured destruction to any commander who 
tried them upon Sherman, Thomas, Sheridan, 
IMeade, or, in fact, any of our great generals. 
Consequently Jackson's fame as a general depends 
ui)on achievements gained before iis generalship 
was tested, before he had a chance of matching 
himself with a really great commander. No doubt 



326 CHIPS FUOM THE WHITE HOUSE. 

SO able {ind patient a man as Jackson, who worlvcd 
so hard at anything he attempted, would ha^■e 
adapted himself to new conditions and risen with 
them. He died before his opportunity. I always 
respected Jackson personally, and esteemed his 
sincere and manly character. He impressed me 
always as a man of the Cromwell stamp, a Puri- 
tan — much more of the New Englander than the 
Virginian. If any man believed in the rebellion, 
he did. And his nature was such that Avhatever 
he believed in became a deep religious duty, a 
duty he would discharge at any cost. It is a 
mistake to suppose that I ever had any feeling for 
Stonewall Jackson but respect. Personally we 
were ahvays good friends ; his character had rare 
points of merit, and although he made the mistake 
of fighting against his country, if ever a man did 
so conscientiously, he was the man. — Around the 
World. 

The war, when it Ijroke out, found me relieved 
from the army, and engaged in my forher's business 
in Galena, Illinois. A compan}'' of volunteers 
were formed under the first call of the President. 
I had no position in the company, but having had 
militar}' ex})erience I agreed to go with the com- 
pany to Si)ringficld, the capital of the State, and 
assist in drill. WTien I reached Springfield I was 
assigned to duty in the Adjutant's Department, and 



i 



ULYSSES S. GRANT. 327 

did a good share of the detail work. I had had 
experience in Mexico. As soon as the work of 
mustering-in was over, I asked Gov. Gates for a 
week's leave of absence to visit my parents in 
Covington. The Governor gave me the leave. 
While I wanted to paj^ a visit home, I was also 
anxious to see McCIellan. McClellan was then in 
Cincinnati in command. He had been appointed 
]\Iajor-General in the regular army. I was de- 
lighted with the appointment. I knew McClellan 
and had great confidence in him. I have, for that 
matter, never lost my respect for McClellan's 
character, nor my 'confidence in his lo}^alty and 
ability. I saw in him the man who was to pilot us 
through, and I wanted to be on his staff. I 
thought that if he ^v'ould make me a major, or 
a lieutenant-colonel, I could be of use, and I 
wanted to be with him. So Avhen I came to Cin- 
cinnati I went to the head-quarters. Several of 
the staff oflScers were friends I had known in the 
army. I asked one of them if the General was 
in. I Avas told he had just gone out, and Avas 
asked to take a seat. Everybody was so busy 
that they could not sa^^ a word. 1 waited a 
couple of hours. I never saw such a busy crowd — 
so many men at an army head-quarters with quills 
behind their ears. But I supposed it was all right, 
and was much encouraged by their industry. It 
was a great comfort to see the men so busy with 



328 CHIPS FROSl THE WHITE IIOI'.'>;E. 

the quills. Finally, after a long -wait, I told an 
officer that I would come in again next day, and 
requested him to tell McClellan that I had called. 
Next day I came in. The same story. The 
genend h;id just gone out, might be in at any 
moment. Would I wait? I sat and waited for 
two hours, watching the officers with their quills, 
and left. . . . McClellan never acknowledged my 
call, and, of course, after he knew I had been at 
his head-quarters I was bound to await liis ac- 
knoAvledgment. I was older, had ranked him 'a 
the army, and could not hang around his head- 
quarters watching tho men with the quills behind 
their ears. I went over to make a visit to an old 
army friend, Reynolds, and Avhile there learned 
that Governor Gates, of Illinois, had made me a 
colonel of volunteei's. Still I should like to have 
joined McClellan. 

This jiomp and ceremony was common at the 
beginning of the war. McClellan had three times 
as many men with quills behind their ears as I had 
ever found necessary at the head-quarters of a much 
larger conmiand. Fremont had as much state as a 
Sovereign, and was as difficult to approach. His 
headquarters alone required as much transporta- 
tion as a division of troops. I was under his com- 
mand a part of the time, and remember how impos- 
insr was his manner of doinix business. He sat in a 
room in full uniform, with his maps before him. 



ULYSSES S. GKAXT. 329 

WTien you went in, be would point out one line or 
another in a mysterious manner, never asking you 
to take a seat. You left without the least idea of 
what he meant or what he wanted you to do. 

McClellan is to me one of the mysteries 

of the war. As a }oung man he \\as always a m}s- 
tcry. Tie had the way of inspiring you with the 
idea of immense capacity, if he would only have a 
chance. Then he is a man of unusual accomplish- 
ments, a student and a well-read man. I have never 
studied his campaigns enough to make up my mind 
as to his military skill, but all my impressions are 
in bis favor. I have entire confidence in McClellan's 
loyality and patriotism. But the test which was 
applied to him would be terrible to any man, being 
made a major-general at the beginning of the war. 
It has always seemed to me that the critics of jMc- 
Clellan do not consider this vast and cruel responsi- 
bility — the war a new thing to all of us, the array 
new, everything to do from the outset, Avith a rest- 
less peojile and Congress. McClellan was a young 
man when this devolved upon him, and if he did 
not succeed, it was because the conditions of suc- 
cess were so trying. If INIcClellan had gone into the 
war as did Sherman, Thomas, or ]\Ieade, had fought 
his way along and up, I have no reason to suppose 
he would not have now as high a distinction as any 
of us. iNIcClellan's main lilundcr was in allowing 
himself political sympathies, and in permitting him- 



330 CHIPS FROM THE WHITE HOUSE. 

self to become the critic of tlio President, and in 
time his rival. This is shown in his letter to Mr. 
Lincoln on his return to Harrison's Landins:, when 
he sat down and ^vrote out a policy for the govern- 
ment. He was forced into this by his associations, 
and that led to his nomination for the presidency. 
I remember how disappointed I Avas about this let- 
ter, and also in his failure to destroy Lee at Antie- 
tam. His friends say that he failed l)ecauseof the in- 
terference from Washington I am afraid the inter- 
ference from Washington was not from I\Ir. Lincoln 
so much as from the enemies of the administration, 
who believed they could carry their point through 
the army of the Potomac. My own experience with 
Mr. Lincoln and Mr. Stanton, both in the western 
and eastern armies, was the reverse. I was never 
interfered with. I had the fullest support of the 
President and Secretary of War. No general could 
want better backing, for the President was a man 
of great wisdom and moderation, the Secretary a 
man of enormous character and w^ill. Very often 
where Lincoln would want to say Yes, his Secretary 
w^ould make him say No ; and more frequently when 
the Secretary was driving on in a violent course, the 
President would check him. United, Lincoln and 
Stanton made about as perfect a combination as I 
believe could, by any possibility, govern a great 
nation in time of war. — Around the World. 



ULYSSES S. GRANT. 331 

A ireneral who will never take a chance in a bat- 
tle will never light one. — Around the World. 

Sherman is not only a great soldier, but a great 
man. He is one of the very great men in our 
country's history. He is a many-sided man. He 
Js an orator with few superiors. As a writer he is 
amono- the first. As a iyeneral I know of no man 
I would i)ut above him. Above all, he has a line 
character — so frank, so sincere, so outspoken, so 
genuine. There is not a false line in Sherman's 
character — nothinof to re^et 

The march to the sea was proposed Ijy me in a 
letter to Halleck before 1 left the Western army ; 
my ol)jective pomt was INIobile. It was not a sud- 
den inspiration, but a logical move in the game. 
It was the next thins: to be done. We had g-one 
so far into the South that we had to go to the sea. 
We could not go anywhere else, for w^e were cer- 
tainly not going back. The details of the march, 
the conduct, the whole glory belong to Shennan. 
I never thought much as to the origin of the idea. 
I i)resume it grew up in correspondence with 
Sherman ; that it took shape as those things ahvays 
do. Sherman is a man with so many resources 
and a mind so fertile, that once an idea takes root 
it gTows rapidly. My objection to Sherman's plan 
at the time, and my objection now, was liis leaving 
Hood's army in the rear. I alwaj^s wanted the 



332 CHIPS FROM THE WHITE HOUSE. 

march to the sea, but at the same time I "vrantcd 
Hood. — Around the World. 

[From his Speech in London, when presented with the fre*»- 
dom of the city, June 15, 1877.] 

Although a soldier by education and profession, 

I have never felt any sort of fondness for war, and I 

have never advocated it except as a means of peace. 

— Aroiuul the World. 

I was never more delighted at anytliing than the 
close of the war. I never hked service in the 
army — not as a young officer. I did not want to 
go to West Point. J\ly a})pointment was an acci- 
dent, and my father had to use his authority to 
make me go. If I could have escaped "West Point 
without bringing myself into disgrace at home, I 
w^ould have done so. I remember about the time 
* I entered the Academy there were debates in Con- 
gress over a proposal to abolish West Point. I 
used to look over the papers and read the Congress 
reports with eagerness to see the progress the bill 
made, and hoping to hear that the school had l)eeu 
aljolished, and that I could go home to my father 
without being in disgrace. I never went into iX 
battle willingly or with enthusiasm. I was alwa}'S 
glad when a battle was over. I never want to 
command another army. I take no interest in 
armies. When the Duke of Cambridge asked me 
to review his troops at Aldershot, I told liis Koya) 



ULYSSES S. GRANT. 333 

Hio'liness that the one thins: I never wanted to see 
again was a military parade. Y\Tien I resigned 
from the army and Avent to a farm I was happy. 
"When the reljcHion came I retm-ncd to the service 
l)ecause it was a dut}'. 1 had no thought of rank ; 
all I did was to try and make myself useful. My 
first commission as brigadier came on the unani- 
mous indorsement of the delegation from Illinois. 
I do not think I knew any of the mcmljers hut 
"Washburne, and I did not know him very well. 
It was only after Donelson that I began to see how 
important was the work that Pro\'idence devolved 
upon me. . . . You see, Donelson was our first 
clear victory, and you will remember the enthusi- 
asm that came with it. . . . When other com- 
mands came I alwa^'s regretted them. "When the 
bill creatino; the oTade of Lieutenant-General was 
proposed, with my name as Lieutenant-General, I 
wrote jNIr. "Washburne opposing it. I did not 
want it. 1 found that the bill was riolit and I was 
wrong, when I came to conmiand the Army of the 
Potomac — that a head was needed to the army. I 
did not want the Presidency, and have never quite 
forgiven myself for resigning the command of the 
army to accept it; but it could not l)e helped. I 
ovv-ed my honors and opixn-tunities to the Ivciuil)li- 
can parly, and if my name could aid it I was 
bound to acc('})t. The second nomination was 
almost due to me — if I may use the phrase — be- 



334 CHIPS FROM THE WHITE HOUSE. 

cause of the bitterness of political pevsoral op- 
ponents. My re-election was a great gratification, 
because it showed me how the country felt. — 
A.round the JVorld. 

I always dreaded going to the Army of the 
Potomac. After the battle of Gettysburg I was 
told I could have the command, but I managed to 
keep out of it. I had seen so many generals fall, 
one after another, like bricks in a row, that I 
shrank from it. After the battle of Mission Ridge, 
and my appointment as Lieutenant-Gencral, and 1 
was allowed to choose my place, it could not be 
avoided. Then it seemed as if the time was ripe, 
and I had no hesitation. — Around the World. 

The most troublesome men in public life, are 
those over-righteous people who see no motive in 
other people's actions but evil motives ; who be- 
lieve all public life is corrupt, and nothing is well 
done unless they do it themselves. They are nar- 
row-headed men, their two e3'es so close together 
that they can look out of the same gimlet-hole 
without winking. — Around the World. 

Andrew Johnson, one of the ablest of the poor 
white class, tried to assert some independence ; 
but as soon as the slaveholders put their thumb 
upon him, even in the Presidency, he became 
their slave. — Around the World. 



ULYSSES S. GRANT. 335 

T do not believe in luck in war any more tlian 
in luck in business. Luck is a small matter; may 
afiect a battle or a movement, but not a campaign 
or a career. — Around the World. 

Speaking of the notable men I have met in Eu- 
I'opc, I regard Bismarck and Gambetta as the 
greatest. I saw a good deal of Bismark in Berlin, 
and later in Gastein, and had long talks with him. 
He impresses you as a great man. 

Gambetta also impressed me greatly. I was 
not surprised, when I met him, to see the power he 
wielded over France. I should not be surprised 
at any prominence he might attain in the future. I 
was very much pleased with the Repul)lican lead- 
ei's in France. They seemed a superior body of 
men. My relations with them gave me great hopes 
for the future of the Kepublic. They were men 
apparently of sense, wisdom, and moderation. — 
Around the Woy^ld. 

I have always had an aversion to Napoleon and 
the whole family. When I was in Denmark the 
Prince Imperial was there, and some one thought 
it might lie pleasant for me to meet him. I de- 
clined, saying I did not want to see him or any of 
his family. Of course the first emperor was a 
great genius, but one of the most selfish and cruel 
men in history. Outside of his mihtary skill, I do 



336 CTiirs FROM the ^^^^ITE house. 

not see a redeeming trait in his character. Ho 
abused France for his own ends, and brouo-ht incred- 
ible disasters u})on his country to gratify his selfish 
ambition. I do not think any genius can excuse a 
crime like that. The tliii'd N.'ipoleon was worse 
than the first, the especial enemy of America and 
liberty. Think of the nn'sery he brought u})on 
France by a war, which, under the circumstances, 
no one but a madman would have declared. 1 
never doubted how the war would end, and my 
sympathies at the outset were entirely with Ger- 
many. I had no ill-will to the French peoj^le, but 
to Napoleon. After Sedan, I thought Germany 
should have made peace with France ; and I think 
that if peace had been made then, in a treaty which 
would have shown that the war was not against 
the French people, but against a tyrant and his 
dynasty, the condition of Europe Avould now be 
different. Germany, esi)ecially, ^vould be in a better 
condition, without being compelled to arm every 
man, and drain the country every 3'ear of its yoimg 
men to arm a2:ainst France. . . . There exists, 
and has since the foundation of our government 
always existed, a traditional friendship between 
our i)Cople and the French. 1 had this feeling in 
connnon with my countrymen. But I felt at the 
same time that no peo})Io h:id so great an intcie.st 
in the removal of Napolconism IVom France as 
the French people. — Around the World. 



ULYSSES S. GRANT. 337 

[From a Speech at Elgin, Scotkind.] 

I am happy to say, that during the eight yenrs 
of my Presidency it \vas a hope of mine, which 1 
am glad to say was realized, that all ditfcrences 
between the two nations should he settled in a man- 
ner honorable to l)oth. All the questions, I am 
glad to say, were so settled, and in my desire for 
that result, it was my aim to do what was right, 
irrespective of any other consideration whatever. 
During all the negotiations, I felt the importance 
of maintaining the friendly relations between the 
great English-speaking people of this country and 
the United States, which I believe to be essential 
to the maintenance of peace })rinciples throughout 
the world, and I feel confident that the continu- 
ance of those relations will exercise avast influence 
in promoting peace and ci\'ilization throughout the 
world. — Arou7id the World. 

[From a Speech at Newcastle.] 

The President [of the Chamber of Com- 
merce] in his remarks has alluded to the personal 
friendship existing betw^een the two nations. I will 
not say the two peoples, because we are one people ; 
but we are two nations having a common destiny, 
and that destiny will be brilliant in proportion to 
the friendshi]! and co-operation of the brethren on 
the two sides of the water. . . . These are tM'O 

22 



338 CHIPS FEOM THE WHITE HOUSE. 

nations which ought to be at peace with each 
otlier. We ought to stiive to keep at peace with 
all the world besides, and hy our example stop 
those wars which have devastated our oAvn coun- 
tries, and are now devastating some countries in 
Europe. — Arotmd the World. 



[From a Speech to the workingmen at Newcastle.] 

I was always a man of peace, and I have alwaj's 
advocated peace, although educated a soldier. I 
never willingly, although I have gone through two 
wars, of my OAvn accord advocated war. I advo- 
cated what I believed to be right, and I have 
fought for it to the best of my ability, in order 
that an honorable peace might be secured. — Aroimd 
the World. 

Now, there is one subject that has been alluded 
to here, that I do not know that I should speak upon 
at all, — I have heard it occasionally whispered since 
I have been in EnQ:land, — and that is, the irreat 
advantasjes that would accrue to the United States 
if free trade should only be established. I have a 
sort of recollection, throusfh reading, that Enijlaiid 
herself had a protective tarifl' until she had manu- 
factories somewhat established. I think we are 
rapidly progressing in the way of estal)lishing 
manufootories ourselves, and I believe we shall 



ULYSSES S. GRANT. 339 

become one of the greatest free-trade nations on 
the face of the earth ; and when we both come to 
be free-traders, I think that probably the balance of 
the nations had better stand aside, and not contend 
with us at all in the markets of the w^orld. — 
A.round the World. 

[Fi-om a Conversation with Bismarck.] 

I regard Sheridan as not only one of the great 
soldiers of om' w'ar, but one of the great sol- 
diers of the world, — as a man who is fit for the 
highest commands. No better o-eneral ever lived 
than Sheridan. 

The truth is, I am more of a farmer than a sol- 
dier. I take little or no interest in military 
affairs, and, although I entered the araiy thirty- 
five years ago, and have been in two w'ars, in 
Mexico as a young lieutenant, and later, I never 
went into the army without regret, and never re- 
tired without pleasure. — Around the World. 

[The following conversation took place between Genera] 
Grant and Bismarck.] 

" You had to save the Union just as we had to 

save German}'." 

" Not only save the Union, but destroy slavery." 
" 1 suppose, however, the Union was the real 

Bentiment, the dominant sentiment?" 



340 CHIPS FROM THE WHITE HOUSE. 

" In the beginning, yes ; but as soon as slavery 
fired upon the flag, it was felt, we all felt, even 
those who did not object to slaves, that slavery 
must be destroyed. AVe felt that it was a stain to 
the Union that men should be bought and sold like 
cattle." 

" I suppose if you had had a large army at the 
beoinnins; of the war it Avould have ended in a 
much shorter time ? " 

" AVe might have had no war at all ; but we 
cannot tell. Our war had many strange features ; 
there were many things which seemed odd enough 
at the time, but which now seem providential. If 
we had had a larger regular army, as it was then 
constituted, it might have gone with the South. 
In fact, the Southern feeling in the army among 
high officers was so strong that when the war 
broke out the army dissolved. \Ye had no army. 
Then we had to or^-anize one. A great com- 
mander like Sherman or Sheridan even then might 
hsLxe organized an ai-my and put do^vn the rebel- 
lion in six months or a year, or, at the farthest, 
two years. But that would have saved slavery, 
perhaps, and slavery meant the genns of new re- 
bellion. There had to be an end of slavery. 
Then we were fighting an enemy with whom we 
could not make a peace. We had to destroy him. 
No convention, no treaty wa'fe possible, only de- 
struction." 



t^LYSSES S. GRANT. 341 

" It was a long war, and a great work well 
done, and I suppose it means a long peace." 
"I believe so." — Around the World. 

[From a letter to Governor Chamberlain, of South Carolina, 
July 2G, 1876.] 

Too Ions: denial of o-uaranteed rii>:ht is sure to 

o o o 

lead to revolution, bloody revolution, where suffer- 
ing must fall upon the innocent as well as the guilty. 

[From a Speech at Galveston, Texas, IMarch 25, 1880.] 

It was m^' fortune, more than a third of 

a century ago, to visit Texas as Second Lieutenant, 
and to have been one of those who went into the 
conilict which Avas to settle the boundary of Texas. 
I am glad to come back now on this occasion to be- 
hold the territory which is an empire in itself, and 
larger than some of the empires of Europe. I wish 
for the people of Texas, as I do for the people of 
the entire South, that they may go on developing 
their resources, and become great and powerful, and 
in their prosperity forget, as the worthy j\layor 
expressed it, that there is a boundary between the 
North and South. I am sure we will all be happier 
and much more prosperous Avhen the day comes 
that there shall be no sectional feeling. Let any 
American, who can travel abroad, as I have done, 
and with the opportunity of witnessing Avhat there 
is to be seen tlxat I liAve had, and he will return to 



342 CHIPS FROM THE AVHITE HOUSE. 

America a better American and a better citizen than 
when he went away. He will return more in love 
with his own country. Far be it from me to find 
fault w^ith any of the European Governments. I 
was w^ell received at their hands on every side, by 
every nation in Europe, but with their dense pop- 
ulation and their worn-out soil it takes a great deal 
of government to enal )lc the people to get from the 
soil a have sul)sistcnce. Here we have rich virgin 
soil, with room enough for all of us to expand and 
live, wdth the use of very little government. I do 
hope we long may be al)le to get along happily and 
contentedly without being too much governed." 

[From a Sijeech at Warren, Ohio, September 28, ISSO.] 

In view of the kno^vn character and ability of the 
speaker who is to address you to-day, and his long 
public career and association Avith the leading states- 
men of this country for the past twenty years, it 
would not be becoming in me to detain you with 
many remarks of my own. But it may be i)roiier 
for me to account to you on the first occasion of 
my presiding at political meetings for the faith that 
is in me. 

I am a Repul)lican, as the two great political 
parties are now divided, because the Republican 
party is a National party, seeking the greatest good 
for the greatest number of citizens. There is not 
a precinct in this vast Nation where a Democrat 



I 



ULYSSES S. GRANT. 343 

cannot cast his ballot and have it counted as cast. 
No matter what the prominence of the opposite 
part}', he can proclaim Ms political opinions, even 
if he is only one among a thousand, without fear 
and without proscription on account of his opinions. 
There are fourteen States, and localities in some 
other States, where Republicans have not this priv- 
ileo-e. 

O 

This is one reason why I am a Republican. But 
I am a RepubUcan for many other reasons. The 
Republican party assures protection to life and 
property, the pubhc credit and the paj^ment of the 
debts of the Government, State, county, or muni- 
cipality so far as it can control. The Democratic 
party does not promise this ; if it does, it has 
broken its promises to the extent of hundi'eds of 
millions, as many Northern Democrats can testify 
to their sorrow. I am a Rcpubhcan, as between the 
existing parties, because it fosters the production 
of the Held and farm and of manufactories, and it 
encourages the general education of the poor as 
well as the rich. The Democratic party discour- 
ages all these when in absolute power. The Re- 
publican party is a party of progress and of liber- 
ality toward its opponents. It encourages the 
poor to strive to better their children, to enable 
them to compete successfully with their more for- 
tunate associates, and, in fine, it secures an entire 
equality before the law of every citizen, no matter 



344 CHIPS FlIOM THE WHITE HOUSE. 

what his race, nationality, or previous condition. 
It tolerates no privileged class. Every one has the 
opportunity to make himself all he is capable of. 

Ladies and gentlemen, do you believe this can 
be truthfully said in the greater part of fourteen 
of the States of this Union to-day which the 
Democratic party controls absolutely? The lie- 
publican party is a party of principles, the same 
principles prevailing wherever it has a foot- 
hold. The Democratic party is united in but one 
tiling, and that is in 2:etting control of the Govern- 
ment in all its branches. It is for internal im- 
provement at the expense of the Government in 
one section and against this in another. It favors 
repudiation of solemn obhgations in one section, 
and honest payment of its debts in another, where 
l)ul)lic opinion will not tolerate any other view. 
It favors fiat money in one place and good money 
in another. Finally, it favors the pooling of all 
issues not tlwored by the Republicans, to the end 
that it may secure the one principle upon which 
the party is a most haiTuonious unit, namely, get- 
ting control of the Government in all its branches. 

I have been in some part of every State lately in 
rebellion, within the last year. I was most hospi- 
tably received at every place where I stopped. My 
receptions were not by the Union class alone, but 
by all classes, without distinction. I had a frea 
talli with many who were against me in the war. 



ULYSSES S. GIJA-\T. 345 

and who have been against the Repul)Iican party 
ever since. They were in all instances reasonable 
men, judged by what they said. I believed than 
and believe now that they sincerely want a 1)reak- 
up in this ''Solid South "political condition. They 
see that it is to their i)ecuniary interest as well as 
to their haj^pincss that there should bo harmony 
and conlidence between all sections. They want 
to l:)reak away from the sla\'ery which 1)inds them 
to a party name. They want a pretext that enough 
of them can unite upon to make it respectable. 
Once started, the Solid South will go as Ku- 
kluxism did before, as is so admirably told by 
Judge Tourgee in his "Fool's Errand." When the 
l)reak comes those ^^■ho start it will l)e astonished 
to Ihid how many of their friends have l^een in 
favor of it for a long time, and have onh' l)een 
waiting to see some one take the lead. This desir- 
able solution can only be attained by the defeat 
and continued defeat of the Democratic party as 
now constituted. 

[Speech in New York, November 20, 1880.] \ 

Now, in regard to the future of mj^self, which 
has been alluded to here, I am entirely satislled 
as I am to-day. I am not one of those who cry 
out aa'ainst the rcpubHc, and chara-e it Avith l)einn; 
ungrateful. I ;im sure thr.t, as regards the Amer- 
ican people, as a nation and as indiviclujils, I have 



346 CHIPS FROM THE WHITE HOUSE. 

every reason under the sun, if any person really 
has, to be satisfied with their treatment of me. 

[Speech in New York, December 1, 1880.] 

The government owes much to the service of its 
volunteer soldiers. Too much credit cannot be 
paid them. The very fact that the country can 
raise so great and good an arm}% in such an emer- 
gency as our late civil war, is a proof that we 
have institutions in which all the people have an 
equal part ; that w^e have a government, not for 
the privileged class, but for the people and by the 
people. When the peaceful citizen changes to the 
soldier, he does so readily, feeling that he is fight- 
ms: for himself when he is fio-htins: for his o'overn- 
ment. I hope and feel that the country will not 
again have to call upon such numbers of its citi- 
zens for support. I am confident that we will not 
Lave another civil w^ar, but should the menaces of 
a foreign foe cause a call to arms, we will find 
the same support and readiness in organizing an 
army as in 18G1. 



RUTHEKFOED B. HAYES. 347 



EUTHERFORD B. HAYES. 

BOKN, 1822. — GRADUATED AT KEN YON COLLEGE, O., 1842.— 
MEMBER OF IIARVAED COLLEGE LAW SCHOOL. — BEGAN 
PRACTICE OF LAW, 1845. — MA JOR IN THE UNION AIOIY, 
JUNE 7, ISCl.— JUDGE ADVOCATE OF THE MILITARY DE- 
PARTMENT OF OHIO, lECl. — LIEUTENANT-COLONEL, CCTO- 
BER 21, 18G1. — BRIGADIER-GENER.:U:., MARCH 13, 1EG5.— 
ELECTED TO CONGRESS, ISGO. — CHAIRMAN OF THE LI- 
BRARY COMMITTEE. — RE-ELECTED, 1S67. — GOVERNOR OF 
OHIO FOR THREE TERMS, 1868-1872. — PRESIDENT, 1877-1881. 

Give me the popularity that runs after, not that 
"which is sought for. — College Diary. 

Judge [Stanley] Mathews and I have agreed to 
go into the service for the war — if possible, into 
the same regiment. I spoke my feelings to him, 
which he said were his own, that this was a just 
and a necessary w'ar, and that it demanded the 
whole power of the country ; that I would prefer 
to go into it, if I knew I was to be killed in the 
course of it, rather than to live through and after 
it without taking any part in it, — 3Iai/ 15, 18G1. 

[From a Speech in Ohio, 18G7.] 

The uniform lesson of history is, that unjust 
and partial laws increase and create antagonism, 



348 CHIPS FROJI THE AVTIITE HOUSE. 

while justice and cquitj' are the sure foundation 

of prosperity and peace 

The truth is, that cxcvy step made in advance 
towards tlie standard of the ri£>ht has in the e^■ent 
always proved a safe and wise step. Every step 
toward the right has proved a step toAvard the ex 
pedient ; in short, that in politics, in morals, in 
public and private life, the right is always ex- 
pedient. 

[From a vSpecch, in 1867, during the political campaign.] 

Our adversaries are accustomed to talk of the 
reljellion as an affair which began AA'hen the rebels 
attacked Fort Sumter in 18G1, and which ended 
when Lee surrendered to Grant, in 1865. . . . 
But the causes, the principles, and the methods 
which produced the rebellion are of an older djite 
than the generation which suffered from the friut 
they bore, and their influence and power are likely 
to last long after that generation passes avv'ay. 
Ever since armed rebellion failed, a large party in 
the South have struggled to make participation in 
the rebellion honoral)le, and loyalty to the Union 
dishonorable. The lost cause with them is the 
honored cause. In society, in business, and in 
politics, devotion to treason is the test of merit, 
the passport to preferment. They wish to return 
to the old state of things, an oligarchy of race 
and the sovereignty of States. 



EUTHERFORD B. HAYES. 349 

To defeat this purpose, to secure the rights of 
man, and to peri)etuate the national Union, arc the 
objects of the congressional plan of reconstruction. 
. . . There are now within the limits of the United 
States about five millions of colored people. They 
are not aliens or strangers. They are not here l^y 
the choice of themselves or their ancestors. They 
arc here by the misfortune of their lathers and the 
crime of ours. Their labors, privations, and suf- 
ferings, unpaid and unrequited, have cleared and 
redeemed one-third of the inhabited territory of 
the Uniau. Their toil has added to the resources 
and wealth of the nation untold millions. Whether 
we prefer it or not, they are our countrymen, and 
will remain so forever. 

They are more than our countrymen — they are 
citizens. Free colored people were citizens of the 
colonies. The constitution of the United States, 
formed by our fathers, created no disablities on 
account of color. By the acts of our fathers and 
of ourselves, they bear equally the burdens, and 
are required to discharge the highest duties of citi- 
zens. They are compelled to pay taxes, and bear 
arms. They fought side by side with their white 
countrymen in the great struggle for independence, 
and in the recent war for the Union. . . . Slaves 
were never voters. It was bad enough that our 
fiitliers, for the sake of union, were compelled to 
allow masters to reckon tliree-fifths of their sla^ es 



350 CHIPS FROM THE WHITE HOUSE. 

for representation, without adding slave suffrage 
to the other privileges of the slaveholders. But 
free colored men were always voters in many of 
the colonies, and in several of the States, North 
and South, after independence was achieved. 
They voted for meml)ers of the Congress which 
declared independence, and for members of every 
Congress prior to the adoption of the federal con- 
stitution ; for the members of the convention 
which framed the constitution ; for the members 
of many of the State conventions which ratified 
it, and for every president, from Washington to 
Lincoln. 

Our government has been called the white man's 
government. Not so. It is not the government 
of any class, or sect, or nationality, or race. It 
is a government founded on the consent of the 
governed. It is not the government of the native- 
born, or of the foreign-born, of the rich man, or 
of the poor man, of the white man, or of the col- 
ored man — it is the government of the freeman. 
And when colored men were made citizens, sol- 
diers, and freemen, by our consent and votes, we 
were estopped from denying to them the right of 
suffrage. 

To corrupt the ballot-box is to destroy our free 
institutions. — 1868. 



RUTHERFORD B. HAYES. 351 

[From the Annual Message, as Governor of Ohio, 1869.] 

All agree tliut a Republican government will fail 
unless the purity of elections is preserved. Con- 
vinced that great abuses of the electoral franchise 
cannot be prevented under existing legislation, I 
have heretofore recommended the enactment of a 
registry law, and also some appropriate measure 
to secure to the minority, as far as practicable, a 
representation upon all boards of elections. 

[From the Inaugiu-al Address, as Governor, 1870.] 

Our judicial system is plainly inadequate 

to the wants of the people of the State. Exten- 
sive alterations of existing provisions must be 
made. The suggestions I desire to present in this 
connection are as to the manner of electing judges, 
their terms of office, and their salaries. It is for- 
tunately true that the judges of our courts have 
heretofore been, for the most part, lawyers of 
learning, ability, and integTity. But it must be 
remembered that the tremendous events and the 
wonderful progress of the last few years are work- 
ing great changes in the condition of our society. 
Hitherto, population has l)een sparse, propei-ty not 
unequally distributed, and the bad elements which 
so frequently control large cities have been almost 
unknown in our State. But with a dense popula- 
tion crowding into towns and cities, with vast 



352 CHirs FiiOM the white house. 

wealth accumulating in the hands of a few persons 
or corporations, it is to be apprehended that the 
time is coming when judges elected by popular 
vote, for short official terms, and poorly [)aid, Avill 
not possess the independence required to protect 
individual rights. Under the National Constitu- 
tion judges are nominated hy the Executive and 
confirmed 1)Y the Senate, and hold office during 
good behavior. It is worthy of consideration 
whether a return to the system established by the 
fathers is not the dictate of the highest prudence. 
I believe that a system under which judges are so 
appointed, for long terms and with adequate sala- 
ries, will affiord to the citizen the amplest jiossible 
security that impartial justice will be administered 
by an independent judiciary. 

[From a Speech at Columbus, Ohio, 1870.] 

The sectarian agitation against the pub- 
lic schools was begun many 3'ears ago. During 
the last few years it has steadily and rapidly in- 
creased, and has been encouraged by various indi- 
cations of possible success. It extends to all of 
the states where schools at the common expense 
have been long established. Its triumphs are 
mainly in the large towns and cities. It has 
already divided the schools, and in a considerable 
degree impaired and limited their usefulness. 

The glory of the American system of education 



KUTTIEKFORD B. HAYES. 353 

has been, that it was so cheap that the humblest 
citizen could afford to give his children its advan- 
tages, and so good that the man of wealth could 
nowhere provide for his children anything better. 
This gave the sj^stem its most conspicuous merit. 
It made it a republican system. The young of 
all conditions of life are brouijht toa^ether, and 
educated on terms of perfect equality. The ten- 
dency of this is to assimilate and to fuse together 
the various elements of our population, to promote 
unit}', harmony, and general good- will in our 
American society. 

But the enemies of the American S3'stem have 
begun the work of destroying it. They have forced 
away from the public schools, in many towns and 
cities, one third or one fourth of their pupils, and 
sent them to schools, which, it is safe to say, are no 
whit superior to those they have left. These youths 
are thus deprived of the associations and the educa- 
tion in practical republicanism and American senti- 
ment which they peculiarly need. 

Nobody questions their constitutional and legal 
right to do this, and to do it by denouncing the 
public schools. Sectarians have a lawful right to say 
that these schools are " a relict of paganism — that 
they arc " godless," and that " the secular school- 
system is a social cancer." But when, having thus 
succeeded in dividing the schools, they make that 
a ground for abolishing school taxation, dividing 

23 



354 CHIPS lliOM THE ^\^IITE HOUSE. 

the school fund, or otherwise destroying the system, 
it is time that its friends should rise up in its de- 
fence. 

We all agree that neither the government nor 
political parties ought to interfere with religious 
sects. It is equally true that religious sects ought 
not to interfere with the government or with poUti- 
cal parties. We believe that the cause of good 
government and the cause of religion both suffer 
by all such interference. But if sectarians make 
demands for legislation, of political parties, and 
threaten a party with opposition at the elections in 
case the required enactments are not passed, and if 
the political party yields to such threats, then those 
thrcatenings, those demands, and that act of the 
political party become a legitimate subject of polit- 
ical discussion, and the sectarians who thus inter- 
fere with the legislation of the State are alone 
responsible for the agitation which follows. 

[From his Annual Message, as Governor of Ohio, January, 
1871. Civil Service Reform.] 

What the public welfare demands is a 

practical measure w'hich will provide for a thorough 
and impartial investigation in every case of sus- 
pected neglect, abuse, or fraud. Such an investi- 
gation to be effective must be made by an authori- 
ty independent, if possible, of all local influences. 
When abuses are discovered, tlie prosecution and 



RUTHERrOED B. HAYES. 355 

punishment of offenders ought to follow. But 
even if prosecutions fail in cases of full exposure, 
public opinion almost always accomplishes the ob- 
ject desired. A thorough investigation of corrup- 
tion and criminality leads with great certainty to 
the needed reform. Publicity is a great corrector 
of abuses. 

[From a Speech at Glendale, Ohio, 1872.] 

We want a financial policy so honest that 

there can be no stain on the national honor, and no 
taint on the national credit ; so stable that laljor 
and capital and legitimate business of every sort 
can confidently count upon what it will be the 
next week, the next month, and the next year. 
We want the burdens of taxation so justly dis- 
tributed, that they will bear equally upon all 
classes of citizens in proportion to their ability to 
sustain them. We want our currency gradually 
to apprecia;te until, without financial shock or any 
sudden shrinkage of values, but in the natural 
course of trade, it shall reach the uniform and per- 
manent value of gold. 

[From a Speech at Marion, Ohio, 1872.] 
The objections to an inflated and irredeemable 
paper cuiTcncy are so many that I do not attempt 
to state them all. ... It promotes speculation 
and extravagance, and at the same time discour- 
ages legitimate business, honest labor, and econ- 



356 CHIPS FROM THE WHITE HOUSE. 

omy. It dries up the true sources of individual 
and public prosperity. Oveiirading and fast liv- 
ing ahvays go with it ; it stimulates the desire to 
incur debt ; it causes high rates of interest ; it 
increases importations from al)road ; it has no 
fixed value ; it is liable to frequent and great fluc- 
tuations, thereby rendering every pecuniary en- 
gagement precarious, and disturbing all existing 
contracts and expectations. It is the parent of 
panics. Every period of inflation is followed by 
a loss of confidence, a shrinkage of values, depres- 
sion of business, panics, lack of employment, and 
"wide-spread disaster and distress. The heaviest 
part of the calamity falls on those least aljle to 
bear it. The wholesale dealer, the middle-man, 
and the retailer, always endeavor to cover the 
risks of the fickle standards of value by raising 
their prices. But the men of small means and the 
laborer are thrown out of employment, and want 
and suflering are liable soon to follow. 

When government enters upon the experiment 
of issuing irredeemable paper money, there can be 
no fixed limit to its volume. The amount will de- 
pend on the interest of leading politicians, on their 
whims, and on the excitement of the hour. It af- 
fords such facilities for contracting debt that ex- 
travagance and corrupt govermncnt expenditures 
are the sure result. Under the name of pubhc 
improvements, the wildest enterprises, contrived 



EUTHERFORD B. HAYES. 357 

for private gain, are undertaken. IndefiiJte ex- 
pansion becomes the rule, and, in the end, bank- 
ruptcy, ruin, and repudiation. 

[From an Address at the Dedication of a Soldiers' IVIona- 
ment in Findley, Ohio, 1875.] 

I know not how many of them [the fal- 
len soldiers] have been gathered into the ceme- 
teries near their homes ; I know not how many 
others have been gathered into the beautiful na- 
tional cemeteries near the great battle-fields. I 
know not how many are lying in swamps, along 
the mountain sides, in nameless graves, — the un- 
known heroes of the Union ; but wherever they 
are, and ho^vever many there may he, you people 
of Hancock County have erected your monument 
to all who fell, who left your county. All sol- 
diers, I am sure, feel like thanking you for this. 

I remember well the first of the saddest days of 
my life was after one of our great battles in the' 
early period of the war. Recovering from wounds 
with other comrades who had been wounded there, 
we passed near the battle-field, as soon as we felt 
able to do so ; and Avhen we came there, Mhat did 
we learn? Passing up the mountain, charging the 
line of the enemy, they fell ; and everywhere were 
the shallow graves in which were deposited the re- 
mains of our seven hundred companions who had 
fallen. And how were the}' buried? and how 



358 CHIPS FROM THE AMHTE HOUSE. 

\ras their last resting-place marked? Hastily, 
tendcrh% no doubt, the parties detailed to bury 
them had gathered up their reniains. You soldiers 
know how it was done. They placed upon the 
face of each man who died, whenever they could 
ascertain his name, a piece of an envelope, or a 
scrap of a letter, or something of the kind, con- 
taining his name, his company, his regiment, 
fastening it there, hoping some day his friends 
might come and find him, and learn who Avas there 
buried. And then, you remember, there were no 
cofiins, nothing of the sort ; but they took the 
blue overcoat and placed it around the man, and 
took the cape, and bringing it over the face, 
fastened it down. This was his shroud ; this was 
his coffin ; and he Avas placed away to rest until 
the resurrection morn. That was the manner of 
his burial. And strange, I may say, was the re- 
sult of that woollen material over the face ; satu- 
rated in the water and covered with the earth, it did 
so protect them from decay that months afterwards 
many were recognized by their friends, preserved 
as they were by the overcoat-cape. And how was 
the grave marked ? With a pencil they scratched 
upon a piece of fine board — a thin piece of 
cracker-box — the name and company, which was 
placed at the grave. This was all then ; and we 
did not know what the result woidd be. We did 
not know what friends would do, what monuments 
would be reared. 



RUTnERFORD B. HAYES. 359 

As we left that field, talking to each other, we 
said there must be a soldiers' monument for the 
soldiers of our regiment. 

After the famous Antietam campaign 

was fought, we called the men together — four 
hundred and fifty or five hundred men, — and from 
the scanty pay which was to support the men, and 
to some extent, their families, the majority of the 
remainder subscrilied at least one dollar, and others 
more, according to their ability, and raised in the 
regiment' two thousand dollars to build a monu- 
ment, on which, it was agreed, should be inscribed 
the name of every man in the regiment who had 
fallen, and every man who should fall during the 
continuance of the war. 

[From his Letter of Acceptance of the Nomination for the 
Presidency, by the Republican National Convention.] 

Columbus, Ohio, July 8, 1876. 

The fifth resolution adopted by the 

Convention is of paramount interest. ]\Iore than 
forty years ago, a system of making appointments 
to office grew up based upon the maxim, " To the 
victors belong the spoils." The old rule, — the 
true rule, — that honesty, capability, and fidelity 
constitute the only real qualifications ^r office, 
and that there is no other claim, gave place to the 
idea that party services were chiefly to be con- 
sidered. All parties in practice have adopted this 



3 GO CTIIPS FR05I THE WHITE HOUSE. 

system. It has been essentially modified since its 
first introduction. It has not, however, been 
improved. 

At first, the President, either directly or 
through the heads of departments, made all the 
appointments. But gradually the appointing power, 
in many cases, passed into the control of members 
of Congi'ess. The offices, in these cases, have 
become not merely rewards for party services, but 
rewards for services to party leaders. This system 
destroys the independence of the separate depart- 
ments of the government ; it tends directly to 
extravagance and official incapacity ; it is a temp- 
tation to dishonesty ; it hinders and impairs the 
careful super\ision and strict accountabihty by 
which alone faithful and efficient public sei*vice can 
be secured ; it obstructs the prompt removal and 
sure punishment of the unworthy. In every way 
it degrades the civil sendee and the character of 
the government. It is felt, I am confident. In'' a 
large majority of the members of Congress, to be 
an intolerable burden, and an unwarrantable 
hindrance to the proper discharge of their legit- 
imate duties. It ought to be abolished. Thei 
reform should be thorough, radical, and complete. 

We should return to the principles and j^ractices 
of the founders of the government, supplying by 
legislation, when needed, that which was formerly 
established custom. They neither expected nor 



RUTHEIJFOKD 15. TTAYES. 3G1 

desired from the public officers any partisan 
service. They meant that pulilic officers should 
0A\ e their whole service to the government and to 
the people. They meant that the officer should be 
secure in his tenure as long as his personal char- 
acter remained untarnished, and the performance 
of his duties satisfactory. If elected, I shall 
conduct the administration of the government 
upon these principles ; and all constitutional pow- 
ers vested in the executive will be employed to 

establish this reform 

With a civil service organized upon a system 
which will secure purity, experience, efficiency, 
and economy ; with a strict regard to the pulilic 
welfare, solely, in appointments ; with the speedy, 
thorough, and uns|)aring prosecution and punish- 
ment of all public officers who betray official trusts ; 
with a sound cuiTcncy ; with education unsectarian 
and free to all ; with simplicity and frugality in 
public and private aliairs ; and with a fraternal 
spirit of harmony pervading the people of all 
sections and classes, we may reasonably hope that 
the second century of our existence as a nation, 
will, by the blessing of God, be pre-eminent as an' 
era of good feeling, and a period of progress, ' 
prosperity', and happiness. ' 



362 CHIPS FROM THE WHITE HOUSE. 



[From his Message, vetoing the Silver Bill, February 28, 
1878.] 

National promises should be kept with unflinch- 
ing fidelity. There is no power to compel a nation 
to pay its just debts. Its credit depends on its 
honor. The nation owes what it has led or allowed 
its creditors to expect. I cannot approve a bill 
which, in my judgment, authorizes the violation of 
sacred obligations. The obligation to the public 
faith transcends all questions of profit or public 
advantage. Its un(][uestionable maintenance is the 
dictate as well of the highest expediency as of the 
most necessary duty, and should ever be carefully 
guarded by the Executive, by Congress, and by 
the people. 

[From the Message vetoing the Chinese Bill, restricting 
Chinese immigration.] 

The principal feature of the Burlingame treaty 
was its attention to and its treatment of the Chinese 
immigration, and the Chinese as forming, or as they 
should form, a part of our population. Up to this 
time (1859) the uncovenanted hospitality to imnu- 
gration, our fearless liberality of citizenship, our 
equal and comprehensive justice to all inhabitants, 
whether they abjured their foreign nationality or 
not, our civil freedom and our religious toleration 
had made all comers welcome, and under these pro- 



RUTHEKFORD B. HAYES. oG3 

tections the Chinese, in considerable numbers, had 

made their lodgment upon our soil 

Unquestional)ly the adhesion of the government 
of China to these liberal principles of freedom in 
emigration, with which we were so familiar, and 
with which we were so well satisfied, v^as a great 
advance toward opening that empire to our civili- 
zation and religion, and gave promise in the future 
of greater and greater practical results in the diliti- 
sion, throughout that great population, of our arts 
and industries, our manufactures, our material im- 
provements, and the sentiments of goveriuncnt and 
religion which seem to us so important to the wel- 
fare of mankind. The first clause of this article 
[of the Treaty] secures this acceptance b}^ China 
of the American doctrine of free emigi'ation to and 
fi'o among the people and races of the earth. 

[Veto Message — Militaiy Bill, April 29, 1879.] 

It is the right of every citizen, possessing the 
qualifications prescribed by law, to cast one unin- 
timidatcd ballot, and to have his ballot honestly 
counted, 

[From the Veto of the Bill " to prohibit militai-y interfer- 
ence at elections," May 12, 1879.] 

Under the sweeping terms of the bill, the national 
government is efiectually shut out from the exercise 
of the right, and from the discharge of the impera- 



364 cnirs fkom the v/iiite house. 

tive duty, to use its whole executiA'c power, when- 
ever and wherever reqmred, for the enforcement 
of its laws, at the places and times when and where 
its elections are held. The emplo^^uent of its or- 
ganized armed forces for any such purpose would 
be an offence against the law, unless called for by, 
and, therefore, upon permission of, the authorities 
of the States in which the occasion arises. What 
is this but the substitution of the discretion of the 
State governments for the discretion of the govern- 
ment of the United States as to the performance 
of its own duties? In my judgment, this is an 
abandonment of its obligations by the national 
government ; a subordination of national authority, 
and an intrusion of State supervision over national 
duties, which amounts, in spirit and tendency, to 
State supremacy. 

[Veto of the Bill regulating the pay and apiiointmeiit of 
United States Deputy Marshals, Jiuic 15, 1880.] 

We hold it to be an incontrovertiJjle principle 
that the Government of the United States may, 
by means of physical force, exercised through its 
official agents, execute in every foot of American 
soil the power and functions that belong to it. 

[Fi-om tlie A^'eto Message — Ai'my Appropi'iation Bill.] 

Upon the assembhng of this [fort^^-sixth] 

Congress, in pursuance of a call for an extra ses- 



RUTHERFOED B. HAYES. 365 

sion, which was made necessary by the fuihire of 
the Forty-fifth Congress to make the needful ap- 
propriations for the support of the government, 
the question was presented whether the attempt 
made in the last Congress to engraft, by construc- 
tion, a new principle upon the Constitution, should 
be persisted in or not. This Congress has ample 
opportunity and time to pass the appropriation bills, 
and also to enact any pohtical measures which may 
be determined upon in separate bills by the usual 
and orderly methods of proceeding. But the ma- 
jority of both Houses have deemed it wise to 
adhere to the principles asserted and maintained in 
the last Congress by the majority of the House of 
Representatives. That principle is that the House 
of Representatives has the sole right to originate 
bills for raising revenue, and therefore has the 
right to withhold appropriations upon which the 
existence of the government may depend, unless 
the Senate and the President shall give their assent 
to any legislation which the House may see fit to 
attach to appropriation bills. To establish this 
principle is to make a radical, dangerous, and un- 
constitutional change in the character of our insti- 
tutions 

The enactment of this bill into a law will estab- 
lish a precedent which will tend to destroy the 
equal indci:)cndence of the several branches (^f the 
government. Its principle places, not merely the 



366 CHIPS FROM THE WHITE HOUSE. 

Senate and the Executive, but the judiciary also, 
under the coercive dictation of the House. The 
House alone will be the judge of what constitutes 
a grievance, and also of the means and measures 
of redress. 

[From an Address at the Annual Reunion of the 23d Regi- 
ment, Ohio Veteran Volunteer Infontry, at Youngstown, 
Ohio.] 

No man has ever stated the issues of the civil 
war more fully, more clearly, or more accurately 
than Mr. Lincoln. In any inquiry as to what may 
fairly be included among the things settled by our 
victory, all just and patriotic minds instinctively 
turn to ]Mr. Lincoln. To him, more than to any other 
man, the cause of Union and liberty is indebted for 
its final triumph. Besides, with all his wonderful 
sagacity, and wisdom, and logical faculty, dvrelling 
intently, and anxiously, and prayerfully, during 
four 3^ears of awful trial and responsibility, on the 
questions which were continually arising to perplex 
and almost confound him, he at last became the 
very embodiment of the principles by which the 
country and its liberties were saved. All good 
citizens may now well listen to and heed his words. 
None have more reason to do it with respect and 
confidence, and a genuine regard, than those whom 
he addressed in his first inaugural speech as " my 
dissatisfied fellow-countrymen." The leader of 



RUTHEEFORD B. HAYES. 367 

the Union cause was so just and moderate, and 
patient and humane, that many supporters of the 
Union thought that he did not go far enough or fast 
enough, and assailed his opinions and his conduct ; 
but now all men begin to see that the plain people, 
who at last came to love him and to lean upon his 
wisdom and firmness with absolute trust, were 
altogether right, and that in deed and purpose he 
was earnestly devoted to the welfare of the whole 
country, and of all its inhabitants. 

Touching the remaining important controversy 
settled by the war, the public avowals of opinion 
are almost all in favor of the faithful acceptance of 
the new constitutional amendments. On this sub- 
ject tlie speeches of public men and the creeds and 
platforms of the leading political parties have for 
some years past been explicit. In 1872, all parties 
in their respective National Conventions adopted 
resolutions recognizing the equality of all men be- 
fore the law, and pledging themselves, in the words 
of the Democratic National Convention, "to main- 
tain emancipation and enfranchisement, and to 
oppose the reopening of the questions settled by 
the recent amendments to the Constitution." In 
1876, the great political parties again, in the lan- 
guage of the St. Louis National Convention, 
afSrmcd their " devotion to the Constitution of the 
United States, with its amendments universallif 



368 cnirs rroii the white house. 

accepted as a final settlement of the controversies 
that engendered the civil war." Notwithstanding 
these declarations, we are compelled to take notice 
that, while very few citizens anywhere would wish 
to re-establish slaver}^ if the}- could, and no one 
would again attempt to break up the Union by 
secession, there still remains in some communities 
a dangerous practical denial to the colored citizens 
of the political rights which are guaranteed to them 
by the Constitution as it now is. In the crisis of 
the war Mr. Lincoln appealed to the colored people 
to take up arms. Al)0ut two hundred thousand 
responded to the call, enlisted in the Union armies, 
and fought for the Union cause under the Union 
flag. Equality of rights for the colored people, 
from that time, thus became one of the essential 
issues of the war. General Sherman said, " when 
the fight is over, the hand that drops the musket 
cannot be denied the ballot." Jefierson said long 
before, " the man who lights for the country is en- 
titled to vote." When, with the' help of the 
colored men, the victory Avas gained, the Fifteenth 
Amendment followed naturally as one of its legiti- 
mate results. No man can truthfully claim that he 
faithfully accepts the true settlements of the war, 
who sees with indifference the Fifteenth Amend- 
ment practically nullified. 

No one can overstate the evils which the country 
must suffer if lawless and Aiolent opposition to the 



RUTHERFORD B. HAYES. 369 

enjoyment of constitutional rights is allowed to be 
permanently successful. The lawlessness which 
to-day assails the rights of the colored people will 
find other victims to-morrow. This question be 
longs to no race, to no party, and to no section. 
It is a question in which the whole country is 
deeply interested. 

Patriotism, justice, humanity, and our material 
interests, all plead on the right side of this ques- 
tion. The colored people are the laborers who 
produce the cotton which, going abroad to the mar- 
kets of the world, gives us that favorable balance 
of trade which is now doin^ so much for the revival 
of all business. The whole fabric of society rests 
upon labor. If free laborers suffer from oppres- 
sion and injustice, they will either become discon- 
tented and turbulent, destroyers of property, and 
not producers of property, or they will abandon 
the communities which deprive them of their in- 
alienable rights. In either case, social order and 
the peaceful industries upon which prosperity de- 
pends, are imperilled and perhaps sacrificed. It will 
not do to say that this is an affair which belongs 
solely to the distant States of the South. The 
whole country must suffer if this question is not 
speedil}' settled, and settled rightly. Where the 
two races are numerous, prosperity can only exist 
by the united and harmonious eflforts of both the 
white people and the colored people. The only 

24 



370 CHIPS FROM THE WHITE HOUSE. 

solid foundations for peace and progress in such 
communities are equal and exact justice to both 
races. Consider the present situation. Whatever 
complaints may have been heard during the prog- 
ress of reconstruction, candid men must admit 
that all sections and all States are now equally re- 
garded, and share alike the rights, the privileges, 
and the benefits of the common Government. All 
that is needed for the permanent pacification of the 
country is the cordial co-operation of all well-dis- 
posed citizens to secure the faithful observance of 
the equal-rights amendments of the Constitution. 

To establish now the State rights doctrine of the 
supremacy of the States, and an oligarchy of race, 
is deliberately to throw away an essential part of 
the fruits of the Union victory. The settlements 
of the war in favor of equal rights and the suprem- 
acy of the laws of the nation are just and wise, and 
necessary. Let them not be surrendered. Let 
them be faithfully accepted and firmly enforced. 
Let them stand, and, with the advancing tide of 
business prosperity, we may confidently hope, by 
the blessing of Divine Providence, that we shall 
soon enter upon an era of harmony and progrcs»j 
such as has been rarely enjoyed by any people. 



RUTHERFORD B. HAYES. 371 



[An Address at the Soldiers' State Reunion.] 

Columbus, Ohio, August 11, 1880. 

The citizens of Ohio who where soldiers 

in the Union Army, and who have assembled here 
in such large numbers, have many reasons for mu- 
tual congratulations as they exchange greetings and 
renew old friendships at this State reunion. We 
rejoice that we had the glorious privilege of enlist- 
ing and servino- on the riirht side in the great 
conflict for the Union and for equal rights. The 
time that has passed since the contest ended is n(;t 
so great Init that we can without eflbrt recall fresh- 
ly and vividly the events and scenes and feelings 
and associations of that most interesting period 
of our lives. We rejoice, also, that we have been 
permitted to live long enough to see and to enjoy 
the results of the victory we gained, and to meas- 
ure the vast benelits which it conferred on our 
country and on the world. I shall not attempt to 
make a catalogue of those benefits, or to estimate 
their value. A single fact, to which I call 3'our 
attention, will sufficiently illustrate, for my pres(>nt 
purpose, the immeasurable l)lessing conferred u} on 
the United States by the success of the Union anxis. 
The statistics of emigration, showing the move- 
ments of population wliich are going on in the 
world, afford a very good test of the compart- ive 
advantages and prosperity of the various ci\i ized 



372 CHIPS FliOM THE -WHITE HOUSE. 

nativons. People leave their own country and fiieek 
new homes in foreign lands to Jjettcr their condi- 
tion. Immigration into a country, therefore, is 
an evidence of that country's prosperity. It is 
also a most efEeient cause of the progress of 
the country which receives it. During our civil 
w^ar, and durins: the disturbed and troubled -\cars 
which immediately preceded and followed it, im- 
migration fell olT and became of comparatively 
small importance. But now, our country's pros- 
perity, the stability of our government, and the 
permanent prevalence of peace at home and Avith 
foreio-n nations, blessinii's which could not have been 
enjoyed by this country if the Union arms had 
failed, have given to the world a confidence in the 
future welfare and o-reatness of the United States 
which is pouring upon our shores such streams of 
immigration as w^ere never known before. This is 
a fact of the most pregnant significance in our pre- 
sent condition. If we take a survey of the globe, 
"we shall find everywhere, among civilized nations 
esi^ecialljs many people who arc eagerly looking 
forward to the time when they can emigrate to some 
more favored land. Only one of the great nations 
is in no danger of losing its capital and lal)or and 
skill by emigration. We find only one which by 
immigration is gaining rapidly in numbers, wealth 
and power. All are losing by this cause except 
the United States. The United States alone is 



RUTIIEEFOKD B. HAYES. 373 

gaining. Other nations see their people going, 
going. "We see, from every quarter, the people 
of other countries comino:, comino-, comino;. There 
is one flag, and in all the world only one, whose 
protection good men and women born under it vrill 
never willingly leave. There is one flag, and only 
one in the world, whose protecting folds good men 
and women born under every other flag that floats 
under the whole heavens are eagerly and gladly 
seekins;. That flaor, so loved at home, so lono^ed 
for by millions abroad, is the old flag under which 
we marched, to save, what in our soldier days we 
were fond of calling, "God's country ! " It is easi- 
ly seen what it is that chiefly attracts this immigra- 
tion. It goes where good land is cheap ; where 
lal)or and capital find profitable emplo}nnent ; where 
peace and social order prevail ; and where civil and 
religious liberty are secure. If we draw nearer to 
the subject, and ask where in our own country does 
this immigration mainly go, the recent census, V\hose 
results we are now getting, gives us the answer. 
That census shows us parts of our own country, 
where land is cheap and where capital and labor are 
needed, that are not rapidly increasing in prosperi- 
ty. In these States it will be found that two things 
arc wanting — the means for popular education are 
not sufliciently provided, and the good order of 
society is disturbed by a practical popular refusal 
to accept the results of the war for the union. 



374 CHIPS Fl!OM THE AVHITE HOUSE. 

These two defects, wherever they prevail in our 
American society, are hostile to the increase of pop- 
ulation and to prosperity. They are found gener- 
ally to exist together. Where popular education 
prevails, tlie equal rights "amendments to the Con- 
stitution of the United States, embodying the re- 
sults of the war, are inviolable." It must, perhaps, 
be conceded that there was one great error in the 
measures by which it was sought to secure the re- 
sults , to harvest the fruits of our Union victory. The 
system of slavery in tlie South of necessity kept in 
io;norance four millions of slaves. It also left an- 
provided with education a large number of non- 
slave-holding white people. With the end of the 
war the slaves inevitably became citizens. The 
uneducated whites remained as they had been, also 
citizens. Thus the grave duties and responsibili- 
ties of citizenship were devolved largely, in the 
States lately in rebellion, upon uneducated peo- 
ple, white and colored. And with Avhat result? 
Liberty and the exercise of the rights of citizenship 
are excellent educators. In many respects we are 
glad to believe that encouraging progress has been 
made at the South. The labor system has l)een 
reorganized, material prosperity is increasing, race 
prejudices and antagonisms have diminished, the 
passions and animosities of the war arc subsiding, 
and the ancient harmony and concord and patriotic 
national sentiments are returning. But, after all, 



RUTHERFORD B. HAYES. 375 

We cannot fail to observe that immigration, which so 
infallibly and instinctively finds out the true C'\>n- 
dition of all countries, does not largely go into the 
late slaveholding region of the United States. A 
great deal of cheap and productive land can there be 
found where population is not rapidly increasing. 
"When our Revolutionary fathers adopted the ordi- 
nance of 1787 for the government of the north- 
west territory, out of which Ohio and four other 
great States have been carved, they were not con- 
tent with merely putting into that organic law a 
firm prohibition against slavery, and providing 
effectual guarantees of civil and religious lil)erty, 
but they established, as the corner-stone of the 
free institutions they wished to build, this article : 
"Religion, morality, and knowledge being necessary 
to good government and the happiness of mankind, 
schools and the means of education shall forever 
be encouraged." Unfortunately for the complete 
success of reconstruction in the South, this stone 
was rejected by its builders. Slavery- has been 
destroyed by the war : but its evils live after it, and 
deprive many parts of the South of that intelligent 
self-government without which, in America at least, 
great and permanent prosperity is impossible. To 
perpetuate the Union and to abolish slavery were 
the work of the war. To educate the uneducated 
is the appropriate work of peace. As long as any 
considerable numbers of our countrymen are uu- 



37G CHIPS FHOM Tiir "wtute house. 

educated, the citizensbi}) of every American in 
evyry State is impaired in value, and is constantly 
imperilled. It is plain that at the end of the vvar 
the tremendous chan^-G in the labor and social sys- 
tems of the Southern States, and the ravages and 
impoverishment of the conflict, added to the biu- 
den of their debts, and the loss of their whole cir- 
culating medium, which died in their hands, left 
the people of those States in no condition to pro- 
vide for universal popular education. In a recent 
memorial to Congress on this subject, in behalf of 
the trustees of thePeabody educational fund, Hon. 
A. II. II. Stuart of Virginia shows that "two mil- 
lions of children in the Southern States are with- 
out the means of instruction " ; and adds, with 
great force, " Where millions of citizens are grow- 
ing up in the grossest ignorance, it is obvious that 
neither individual charity nor the resources of im- 
poverished States will be suiScient to meet the 
emergency. Nothing short of the wealth and power 
of the Federal Government v/ill sutBce to over- 
come the evil." The principle applied by general 
consent to works of i)ublic improvement is in point. 
That principle is, that whenever a public improve- 
ment is of national importance, and local and pri- 
vate enterprise are inadequate to its prosecution, 
the General Government should undertake it. On 
this principle I would deal with the question of ed- 
ucation hy the aid of the National Government. 



I 



RUTIIUKFOUD B. HAYES. 377 

"WTierever in the United States the local systems 
of popular education are inadequate, they should 
be supplemented l^y the General Government, by 
devoting to the purpose, by suitable legislation and 
with proper safeguards, the public lands, or, if 
necessary, appropriations from the treasury of the 
United States. The soldier of the Union has done 
his work, and has done it well. The work of the 
schoolmaster is now in order. "Wherever his work 
shall be well done, in all our borders, it will be 
found that there, also, the principles of the Dec- 
laration of Independence will l)e cherished, the 
sentiment of nationality will prevail, the equal- 
rights amendments will be cheerfully obeyed, and 
there will be " the home of freedom and the refu^-e 
of the oppressed of every race and of every clime." 

[From an Address at the Reunion of Ohio Soldiei's and 
Sailors, at Canton, Ohio, SoiJtcmber, 1880.] 

At the Soldiers' State reunion in Columbus, last 
month, I made some remarks on the duty of the 
general government to complete the work of recon- 
struction by affording aid, wherever it is needed, 
for the education of the illiterate white and colored 
people in the late slaveholding States. I am firmly 
convinced that the subject of popular education 
deserves the earnest attention of the people of the 
whole country, with a view to wise and compre- 
hensive action by the gov-ernment of the United 



378 CHIPS FROM THE MTHTE HOUSE. 

States. The means at the command of the local 
and State authorities are, in man}'^ cases, wholly 
inadequate to deal with the question. The magni- 
tude of the evil to be eradicated is not, I appre- 
hend, generally and fully understood. Consider 
these flicts : 

1. In the late slaveholding States, under the 
system of slavery, education was denied to the 
colored people, and the education of the non- 
slaveholding white people was greatly neglected. 
By reason of this state of things, in 1870 more 
than four millions of people in the South of school 
age and over that age "svere unable to read and 
write, and more than three-quarters of a million 
of voters are too illiterate to prepare or even to 
read their own ballots. This evil is not rapidlj- 
diminishing. By the latest available statistics it 
appears that in 1878 the total school population, 
white and colored, in the late slaveholding States 
was 5,187,584, and that only 2,710,096 were 
during that year enrolled in any school. This 
leaves 2,477,488 — almost two and a half milhons 
— of the young who arc growing up without the 
means of education. Citizenship and the right to 
vote were conferred upon the colored people by 
the government and people of the United States. 
It is, therefore, the sacred duty, as it is the highest 
interest, of the United States to see that these new 
citizens and voters are fitted by education for the 



RUTHERFORD B. HAYES. 379 

grave responsibility that has been cast upon tbem. 
Dr. RufFner, school superintendent of Virginia, in 
an argument that the general government should 
aid the public schools of the South, saj's : '' I 
know not what is true of Noi*thern or Western 
States, but I can say for my State, and for most 
of the Southern States, we are not able to educate 
our people in any tolerable sense. We are too 
poor to do it. A few years ago I showed this 
conclusively by statistics. . . . There has not been 
much increase in financial ability in these States 
since that time ; no increase on an average of my 
own State, so far as I can judge, and every well- 
informed man knows that, whatever be the wants 
of a State, her power of taxation has a limit." 

2. In the Territories of the United States it is 
estimated that there are over two hundred thousand 
Indians, almost all of whom are uncivilized. They 
have heretofore been hunters and ^varriors. But now 
no one who observes the rapid progress of railroads 
and settlements in the West can fail to see that 
the game and fish, on which the Indians have hith- 
erto subsisted, are about to disappear. The solu- 
tion of the Indian question will speedily be either 
the extinction of the Indians, or their absorption 
into American citizenship, by means of the civil- 
izing infiuences of education. AYith the disappear- 
ance of game, there can no longer remain Indian 
hunters and warriors. The days of Indian wars 



380 CIIIPS FKO:\I THE WHITE HOUSE. 

are drawing to a close. There will soon be no 
room for question as to the department to which 
the Indian will belong. In a few years all must 
agree that he should belong, like every other citi- 
zen, only to himself. The time is not distant 
when he should be chiefly cared for by the civil- 
izing department of the government — the Bureau 
of Education. 

o. The people of the Territory of New Mexico 
have never been provided with the means of edu- 
cation. The number of people in that Territory 
in 1870, ten 3'ears old and upward, who could not 
read and write, was fifty-two thousand two hun- 
dred and twenty. This is largely more than half 
of the population. The school population is now 
over thirty thousand, of whom only about one-sixth 
are enrolled in schools. It will not be questioned that 
the power of the general government to " make all 
needful rules and regulations respecting the Ter- 
ritory belonging to the United States," is sufficient 
to authorize it to provide for the education of the 
increasing mass of illiterate citizens growing up in 
Kew jMexico and in the other Territories of the 
United States. 

4. The number of immigrants arriviuGT in the 
United States is greater than ever bcibre. It is 
not improbable, from present indications, that 
from this source alone there will be added during 
the current decade to the population of our coun- 



RUTHERFORD B. HAYES. 381 

try 5,000,000 of people. On one day kst spring 
there arrived in New York 4,007 immigrants, — 
almost five thousand in a -single day at that one 
port. During the quarter ending the 30lli of 
June last, the number of immigrants into the 
United States averaged 80,000 a month, and dur- 
ing the four months ending the 3 1st of July last 
there were nearh^ 300,000. 

Hai^pily for the United States, several of the 
large elements of this immigration contain very 
few people who are wholly uneducated. The 
Germans and Scandinavians have for the most 
part been educated at public schools in their own 
country. But it is probable that from one-fourth 
to one-third of the present total immigration into 
our country is from foreign nations in Avhich popu- 
lar education is greatly neglected. It may rea- 
sonably be estimated that at least from twenty to 
twenty-five per cent, of the immigrants are illiter- 
ate. In the current decade we shall probably re- 
ceive from abroad more than a million of people 
of school age and upward who arc unable to read 
and write any language ; and of these about a 
quarter of a million in a few years will share with 
us c(}ually, man for man, the duties and responsi- 
bilities of the citizen and the voter. JeHerson, 
with his almost marvellous sagacity and foresight, 
declared, nearly a hundred 3ears ago, that free 
schools were an essential part — one of the col- 



382 CHIPS FROM THE WHITE HOUSE. 

umns, as he expressed it — of the republieun edi- 
fice, and that " without instruction free to all, the 
sacred flame of libertycould not be kept burning 
in the hearts of Americans." Madison said, almost 
sixty years ago, "A popular government, without 
popular information, or the means of acquiring it, 
is but a prologue to a farce or a tragedy, or per- 
haps to both." Already, in too many instances, 
elections have become the farce which JNIadison 
predicted ; and the tremendous tragedy which we 
saw when we were soldiers of the Union, and in 
which we bore a part, could never have occurred, 
if in all sections of our country there had been 
universal suffrage based upon universal education. 
In our country, as everywhere else, it will be 
found that, in the long run, ignorant voters are 
powder and ball for the demagogues. The failure 
to support free schools in any part of our country 
tends to cheapen and degrade the right of suffrage, 
and will ultimately destroy its value in every other 
part of the Kepublic. The unvarying testimony 
of history is, that the nations which win the most 
renowned victories in peace and war are those 
which provide ample means for popular education. 
Without free schools there is no such thing as af- 
fording to " everj^ man an unfettered start and a 
fair chance in the race of life." In the present 
condition of our country universal education re- 
quires the aid of the general government. The 



RUTHERFORD B. HAYES. 383 

authority to gi'imt such aid is established l)y a line 
of precedents beginning with the origin of the Re- 
public, and running down through almost every 
administration to the present tnne. Let this aid 
be gi'antccl wherever it is essential to the enjoy- 
ment of free popular instniction. In the language 
of Mr. Webster : " The census of these States 
shows how great a proportion of the whole popu- 
lation occupies the classes between infancy and 
manhood. These are the wide fields, and here is 
tiie deep and quick soil, for the seeds of knowledge 
and virtue, and this is the favored season, — the 
very springtime for sewing them. Let them be 
disseminated without stint ; let them be scattered 
with a bountifid hand broadcast. Whatever the 
government can fairly do toward these objects, in 
my opinion, ought to be done." 

[From an Address at the Anniversary of the Hampton In- 
stitute, Virginia, May 20, 1880.] 

The President said that he should be glad if he 
could speak to all who are entitled to the credit of 
establishinoj and sustainin2: the Institute — the feel- 
ing of all who have listened to the exercises of the 
day ; but the stream of congratulation and encour- 
agement for the Institute flows so deep and strong 
that it is hardly necessary to add anything to it. He 
desired only to thank the principal, Gen. Armstrong, 
who has done so much, the trustees, the teachers, the 



384 CIIIPS FROM THE WHITE HOUSE. 

pupils, and these who were now to go out, and to 
express to them all the gratitude and the satisfac- 
tion which he felt in what had been done. The 
question you are dealing with is the oldest and one 
of the most difficult, and indeed one of the most 
vital — how to deal with the seemingly i-epugnant 
elements which mako up our population. When I 
remember the diversity of climate and soil and 
natural resources Avhich characterize our country, 
it seems to me that these conditions required, if 
they did not create, the diverse elements of the 
population. The great task is, how to fuse a peo- 
ple differing so widely in race and nationality into 
one harmonious whole ? — and this is the problem 
which Hampton Institute is solving. It is teaching 
us to deal with all these diverse races and classes 
as children of the same great Father. It is helping 
to wipe out sectionalism and race prejudice — and 
these are the only two enemies America has ever 
had to fear. We do not wish to repeal or change 
the laws of nature ; Avhat God has made separate 
and distinct, we do not mean to interfere with. 
We do not wish to abolish the distinctions lietween 
the races. We arc willing that they should remain 
distinct and separate as the lingers of the hand ; 
but wc want them, for eifectiveness in every good 
work, and for the national defence, to be united, 
to become one as the hand. This is the problem, 
so hard and difficult, which has caused so much 



RUTHERFORD B. HAYES. 385 

anxiety, and so much suffering and affliction, which 
Hampton is solving. The question is settled, and 
there is no need of making a speech about it. 

[From an Address to the Citizens of Detroit, Michigan, 
September 18, 1880.] 

The practice of creating public debts, as it pre- 
vails in this country, especially in municipal gov- 
ernments, has long attracted very serious attention. 
It is a great and growing evil. States, whose good 
name and credit have been hitherto untarnished, 
are threatened with repudiation. Many towns and 
cities have reached a point where they must soon 
face the same peril. I do not now wish to discuss 
the mischiefs of repudiation. My purpose is mere- 
ly to make a few suggestions as to the best way to 
avoid repudiation. But, in passing, let me ob- 
serve : Experience in this country has shown that no 
State or community can, finder any circumstances, 
gain by repudiation. The repudiators themselves 
cannot afford it. The conmiunity that deliberately 
refuses to provide for its honest debts, loses its 
good name and shuts the door to all hope of fu- 
ture prosperity. It demoralizes and degrades all 
classes of its citizens. Capital and labor and good 
people will not go to such comnmnities, but will 
surely leave them. If I thought my words could 
influence any of my countr^Tiien who are so unfor- 

26 



386 CHIPS FROM THE WHITE HOUSE. 

tunate as to be compelled to consider this question, 
I would say, let no good citizen be induced, by 
any prospect of advantage to himself or to his 
party, to take a single step toward repudiation. 
Let him set his face like flint against the first 
dawning of an attempt to enter upon that down- 
ward pathway. It has been well said that the 
most expensive way for a community to get rid of 
its honest debts is repudiation. 

[From a Message to Congress, February, 1881.] 

The Indians should be prepared for citizenship 
by giving to their young of both sexes that indus- 
trial and general education which is requisite to 
enable them to be self-supporting and capable of 
self-protection in civilized communities. 

Lands should be allotted to the Indians in sever- 
alty, inalienable for a certain period. 

The Indians should have a fair compensation for 
their lands not required for individual allotments, 
the amount to be invested, with suitable safeguards, 
for their benefit. 

With these prerequisites secured, the Indians 
should be made citizens, and invested with the 
rights and charged with the responsibilities of citi- 
zenship. 

Nothinir should be left undone to show to the 
Indians that the government of the United States 



RUTHERPORD B. HAYES. 387 

regards their rights as equally sacred with those of 
its citizens. 

[With reference to the Poncas, and theu*alleged -wrongs, he 
added] : 

Whether the Executive, or Congress, or the pub- 
lic is chiefly in fault is not now a question of prac- 
tical importance. As the chief Executive at the 
time when the wrong was consummated, I am 
deeply sensible that enough of the responsibility 
for that wrong justly attaches to me to make it my 
personal duty and earnest desire to do all I can to 
give these Indian people that measure of redress 
wliich is required alike by justice and by hu- 
manity. 



388 CHIPS YROM THE WHITE HOUSE. 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

BOKN, 1831. — GRADUATED AT WILLIAjMS COLLEGE, INLVSS, 1856. 

— PROFESSOR OF ANCIENT LANGUAGES IN HIRAM INSTI- 
TUTE, OHIO, 1856. — PRESIDENT OF HIRAM COLLEGE, 1857. 

— ELECTED TO THE STATE SENATE. OHIO, 1853.— ADiHTTED 
TO THE BAR, 1860. — COLONEL OF AN OHIO REGIMENT, 1861. 
—BRIGADIER-GENERAL, 1862. — MEMBER OF THE FITZ-JOHN 
PORTER COURT-]NL\RTIAL, 1862. — CHIEF OF STAFF LENDER 
GENERAL ROSECRANS, 18C3. — ELECTED TO CONGRESS, 18G3. 

— MEMBER OF THE IMILITAEY COJOIITTEE. — RE-ELECTED 
TO CONGRESS, 1SG5.— MEMBER OF COMJiIITTEE OF WAYS 
AND MExVNS. — VISITED EUROPE, 18C7. —CHAIRMAN OF THE 
COINIMITTEE ON THE TARIFF, 1870. — ON APPROPRLITIONS, 
1871-1875. — RE-ELECTED TO CONGRESS, 1878.- MEMBER OF 
THE ELECTORAL COMMISSION, 1S76. — ELECTED TO THE 
SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES FROM OHIO, 1880. - PRESI- 
DENT, 1881. 

[Speech on the CiuTency. — d6th Congress.] 

No man can doubt that within recent years, and 
notably within recent months, the leading thinkers 
of the civilized world have become alarmed at the 
attitude of the two precious metals ui relation to 
each other ; and many leading tliinkers are becom- 
ing clearly of the opinion that, by some wise, judi- 
cious arrangement, both the precious metals must 
be kept in service for the currency of the world. 
And this opinion has been very rapidl}^ gaining 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. o8P 

ground within the past six months to such an ex- 
tent, that Enoland, which for more than half a cen- 
tury has stoutly adhered to the single gold stand- 
ard, is now seriously meditating how she may 
harness both these metals to the monetary car of 
the world. And yet outside of this capital, I do 
not this day know of a single great and recog- 
nized advocate of bi-metallic money who regards 
it prudent or safe for any nation largely to increase 
the coinage standard of silver at the present time 
beyond the limits fixed by existing laws. . . . Yet 
w^e, who during the past tw^o years have coined far 
more silver dollars than we ever before coined 
since the foundation of the Government ; ten times 
as many as we coined during half a century of our 
national life ; are to-day ignoring and defying the 
enlightened universal opinion of bi-metallism, and 
saying that the United States, single-handed and 
alone, can enter the field and settle the mighty 
issue. We are justifying the old proverb that 
"fools rush in where ano-els fear to tread." It 

o 

is sheer madness, Mr. Speaker. I once saw a 
dog on a great stack of hay that had been floated 
out into the wild overflowed stream of a river, 
with its stack-pen and foundation still holding to- 
gether, but ready to be wrecked. For a little 
while the animal appeared to be perfectly happy. 
Ilis hay-stack was there, and the pen around it, 
and he seemed to think the world briijiit and hi.s 



390 CHIPS FROM THE AVHITE HOUSE. 

happiness secure, while the sunshine fell softly on 
his head and hay. But by and by he began \o 
discover that the house and the barn, and their 
surroundings were not all there, as they were 
when he went to sleep the night before ; and he 
began to see that he could not command all the 
prospect, and peacefully dominate the scene as he 
had done before. 

So with this House. We assume to manaije this 
mighty question which has been launched on the 
wild current that sweeps over the whole world, 
and we bark from our legislative hay-stacks as 
though we commanded the whole world. In the 
name of common sense and sanity, let us take 
some account of the Hood ; let us understand that 
a deluge means something, and try if we can to 
get our bearings before we undertake to settle the 
affairs of all mankind by a vote of this Plouse. 
To-day we are coining one-third of all the silver 
that is being coined in the round world. China is 
coining another third ; and all other nations are 
using the remaining one-third for subsidiary coin. 
And if we want to take rank Avith Cliina, and part 
company with all of the civilized nations of the 
Western world, let us pass this l:)ill, and then "bay 
the moon " as we float down the whirling channel 
to take our place among the silver mono-mctalhsts 
of Asia. 



JAMES A. GAllFIELD. 391 



[Letter to B. A. Kimball.] 

Columbus, Ohio, February 16, 1861. 

Mr. Lincoln has come and gone. The rush of 
people to see him at every point on the route is 
astonishing. The reception here was plain and 
republican, but very impressive. He has been 
raising a respectable pair of dark-brown whiskers, 
which decidedly improve his looks, but no ap- 
pendage can ever render him remarkable for 
beauty. On the whole, I am greatly pleased with 
him. He clearly shows his want of culture, and 
the marks of western life ; but there is no touch 
of affectation in him, and he has a peculiar power 
of imi^ressing you that he is frank, direct, and 
thoroughly honest. His remarkable good sense, 
simple and condensed style of expression, and 
evident marks of indomitable will, o-ive me sfreat 
hopes for the country. And, after the long, dreary 
period of Buchanan's weakness and cowardly im- 
becility, the people will hail a strong and vigorous 
leader. 

[To the Same.] 

A monarchy is more easily overthrown than a 
rcbublic, because its sovereignty is concentrated, 
and a single blow, if it be powerful enough, will 
crush it. 



392 CHIPS Fnmr ttit: wrriTE ugu^k. 

As an abstract theory, the doctrine of Free 
Trade seems to be universally true, but as a ques- 
tion of practicability, under a government like 
ours, the protective system seems to be indis- 
pensable. 

[Spoecli on a Draft Bill, June 21, 1864.] 

It has never been my policy to conceal a truth 
merely because it is unpleasant. It may be well 
to smile in the face of danger, but it is neither 
well nor Avise to let danger approach unchallenged 
and unannounced. A brave nation, like a brave 
man, desires to sec and measure the perils which 
threaten it. It is the right of the American people 
to know the necessities of the Republic when they 
are called upon to make sacrilices for it. It is this 
lack of contidence in ourselves and the people, 
this timifl Availing for events to control us when 
they should obey us, that makes men oscillate 
between hope and fear ; noAv in the sunshine of the 
hill-tops, and noAv in the gloom and shadoAvs of 
the A^alley. To such men the bulletin Avhich 
heralds success in the army gives exultation and 
high hope ; the cA^ening dispatch, amiouncing 
some slight disaster to our advancing columns, 
brings gloom and de})ression. Ho])e rises and falls 
by the accidents of Avar, as the mercury of the ther- 
mometer changes by the accidents of heat and 
cold. Let us rather take for our symbol the 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 393 

sailor's Tjaronieter, which faithfully forewarns hira 
of the tempest, and gives him unerring promise of 
serene skies and peaceful seas. 

[Sijeech in New York City, 1865, on the Assassination of 
President Lincoln.] 

By this last act of madness it seems as though 
the Rebellion had determined that the President 
of the soldiers should go with the soldiers who 
have laid down their lives on the battle-field. 
They slew the noblest and gentlest heart that ever 
put down a rebellion upon this earth. In taking 
that life they have left " the iron " hand of the people 
to fall upon them. Love is on the front of the 
throne of God, but justice and judgment, with 
inexorable dread, follow behind ; and where law 
is slighted and mercy despised, when they have 
rejected those who would l)e their liest friends, 
then comes justice with her hoodwinked eye, and 
with the sword and scales. From every gaping 
wound of your dead chief, let the voice go up for 
the people to see to it that our house is swept and 
garnished. I hasten to say one thing more. For 
mere vengeance I would do nothing. This nation 
is too great to look for mere revenge. But for 
security of the future I would do everything. 



394 CHIPS FROM THE WHITE HOUSE. 



[Speech in Cons^-ess on the Constitutional Amendment to 
abolish slavery, January 13, 1865.] 

On the 21st day of June, 1788, our national 
sovereignty was lodged, by the people, in the 
Constitution of the United States, where it still 
resides, and for its preservation our armies are 
to-day in the tield. In all these stages of devel- 
opment, from colonial dependence to full-orbed 
nationality, the people, not the States, have been 
omnipotent. They have abolished, established, 
altered, and amended, as suited their sovereign 
pleasure. They made the Constitution. That 
great charter tells its own story best : 

"We, the people of the United States, in order to foi'm a 
more perfect Union, establish justice, insure domestic tran- 
quillity, provide for the common defence, promote the gen- 
eral welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves 
and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution 
for the United States of America." 

That Constitution, with its amendments, is the 
latest and the greatest utterance of American 
sovereignty. The hour is now at hand when that 
majestic sovereign, for the benignant purpose of 
securing still farther the 'blessings of liberty,' is 
about to put forth another oracle ; is about to de- 
clare that universal freedom shall be the supreme 
law of the land. Show me the power that is 



JAMES A. CAr.rii:LD. 395 

authorized to forl)icl it. . . . They made the Con- 
stitution what it is. They could have made it 
otherwise then ; they can make it otherwise now. 

In the very crisis of our fate, God lirought us 
face to ftice with the alarming truth, that we must 
lose our own freedom, or grant it to the slave. 
In the extremity of our distress, we called upon 
the black man to help us save the Republic, and 
amidst the very thunder of battle we made a cov- 
enant with him, sealed both with his blood and 
ours, and witnessed by Jehovah, that when the 
nation was redeemed, he should be free, and share 
with us the glories and blessings of freedom. In 
the solemn words of the great proclamation of 
emancipation, we not only declared the slaves for- 
ever free, but we pledged the faith of the nation 
*'to maintain their freedom" — mark the words, ^' to 
maintain their freedom." The Omniscient witness 
will appear in judgment against us if we do not 
fulfil that covenant. Have we done it? Have 
we given freedom to the black man? What is 
freedom? Is it a mere negation? the bare privi- 
lege of not being chained, bought, and sold, 
branded, and scourged? If this be all, then free- 
dom is a bitter mockery, a cruel delusion, and it 
may well be questioned whether slavery were not 
better. 

But liberty is no negation. It is a substantive. 



396 cmrs fkom the wiiitk house. 

tangible reality. It is the realization of those im- 
perishable truths of the Declaration, "that all men 
are created equal," that the sanction of all just 
government is " the consent of the governed." 
Can these truths be realized until each man has 
a right to be heard on all matters relating to 
himself? 

Mr. Speaker, we did more than merely to 
break olF the chains of the slaves. The abolition 
of slavery added four million citizens to the Re- 
public. By the decision of the Supreme Court, 
by the decision of the attorney-general, hy the 
decision of all the departments of our govern- 
ment, those men made free are, by the act of free- 
dom, made citizens. 

If they are to be disfranchised, if they are to 
have no voice in determining the conditions under 
which they are to live and labor, what hope have 
they for the future ? It will rest with their late 
masters, whose treason they aided to thwart, to 
determine whether negroes shall be permitted to 
hold property, to enjoy the ])cnefits of education, 
to enforce contracts, to have access to the courts 
of justice — in short, to enjoy any of those rights 
which give vitality and value to freedom. Who can 
fail to foresee the ruin and misery that await this 
race to whom the vision of freedom has been pre- 
sented only to be withdrawn, leaving them with- 



JA3IES A. GARFIELD. 397 

out even the aid which the muster's selfish, com- 
mercial interest in their life and service formerly 
afforded them? Will these neo-roes, rememlierinc* 
the battle-fields on which nearly two hundred 
thousand of their number have so bravely fought, 
and many thousands have heroically died, submit 
to oppression as tamely and peaceably as in the 
days of slavery ? Under such conditions there 
could be no peace, no security, no prosperity. 
The spirit of slavery is still among us ; it must be 
utterly destroyed before we shall be safe. 

Mr. Speaker, I know of nothing more dan- 
gerous to a Republic than to put into its very 
midst four million people, stripped of every attri- 
bute of citizenship, robbed of the right of repre- 
sentation, but bound to pay taxes to the govern- 
ment. If they can endure it, we can not. The 
murderer is to be pitied more than the murdered 
man ; the robber more than the robbed. And we 
who defraud four million citizens of their rights 
are injuring ourselves vastly more than we are 
injuring the black man whom we rob. 

Throughout the whole web of national existence 
we trace the golden thread of human progress to • 
ward a higher and better estate. 

The life and light of a nation are inseparable. 



398 CHIPS FROM THE WHITE HOUSE. 

We confront the dangers of suffrage by the 
blessings of universal education. 

We should do nothing inconsistent with the 
spirit and genius of our institutions. We should 
do nothing for revenge, but everything for secu- 
rity : nothing for the past ; everything for the 
present and future. 

There are two classes offerees whose action and 
reaction determine the condition of a nation — the 
forces of Repression and Expression. The one 
acts from without; limits, curbs, restrains. The 
other acts from within ; expands, enlarges, propels. 
Constitutional forms, statutory limitations, con- 
servative customs, belong to the first. The free 
play of individual life, opinion, and action, belong 
to the second. If these forces be happily balanced, 
if there be a wise conservation and correlation of 
both, a nation may enjoy the double blessing of 
progress and permanence. 

It matters little what may be the forms of Na- 
tional institutions, if the life, freedom, and growth 
of society are secured. 

There is no horizontal stratification of society in 
this country like the rocks in the earth, that hold 
one class down below forevermore, and let another 
come to the surface to stay there forever. Our 
stratification is like the ocean, where every indi- 



JAMES A. GAKFIELD. S99 

vidual drop is free to move, and where from the 
sternest depths of the mighty deep any drop may 
come up to glitter on the highest wave that rolls. 

The Union and the Congi-ess must share the 
same fate. They must rise or fall together. 

Real political issues cannot be manufactured by 
the leaders of political parties, and real ones can- 
not be evaded by political parties. The real polit- 
ical issues of the day declare themselves and come 
out of the depth of that deep which we call public 
opinion. The nation has a life of its own as dis- 
tmctly defined as the life of an individual. The 
signs of its growth and the periods of its develop- 
ment make issues declare themselves ; and the 
man or the political party that does not discover 
this, has not learned the character of the nation's 
Hfe. 

[Reply to Mr. Lamar, in a Committee of the Whole.] 

Mr. Chairman, gi-eat ideas travel slowly, and 
for a time noiselessly, as the gods, whose feet 
were shod with wool. Our war of independence 
was a war of ideas, of ideas evolved out of two 
hundred years of slow and silent growth. When, 
one hundred years ago, our fathers announced as 
self-evident truths the declaration that all men are 
created equal, and the only just power of govern- 
ments is derived from the consent of the governed, 



400 CHIPS FlIOM THE WHITE HOUSE. 

they uttered a doctrine that no nation hud ever 
adopted, that not one kingdom on the earth tlien 
believed. Yet to our fathers it was so plain that 
they would not dcl^ate it. The}^ announced it as 
a truth ''self-evident." 

Whence came the immortal truths of the Dec- 
laration ? To me this was for years the riddle of 
our history. I have searched long and patiently 
through the books of the doctrinaires to find the 
germs from wdiich the Declaration of Independence 
sprang. I find hints in Locke, in Ilobbes, in lious- 
seau, and Fenelon ; but they were only the hintii 
of dreamers and philosophers. The great doc- 
trines of the Declaration germinated in the hearts 
of our fathers, and were developed under the new 
influences of this wilderness world, by the same 
sul)tile mystery which brings forth the rose from 
the germ of the rose-tree. Unconsciously to them- 
selves, the great truths were growing under the 
new^ conditions, until, like the century-plant, they 
blossomed into the matchless beauty of the Decla- 
ration of Independence, whose fruitage, increased 
and increasing, we enjoy to-day. 

It will not do, Mr. Chakman, to speak of the 
gigantic revolution through which we have lately 
passed as a thing to be adjusted and settled by a 
change of administration. It Avas cyclical, epochal, 
century-wide, and to he studied in its l>road imd 



JAMES A. GAKFIELD. 401 

grand perispective — a revolution of even wider 
scope, so far as time is concerned, than the Revo- 
lution of 1776. We have been dealing with ele- 
ments and forces which have been at Avork on this 
continent more than two hundred and fifty years. 
I trust 1 shall be excused if I take a few moments 
to trace some of the leading })hases of the great 
strusfijle. And in doing so, I bes; o-entlemen to 
see that the subject itself lifts us into a region 
where the individual sinks out of sight and is ab- 
sorbed m the mighty current of great events. It 
is not the occasion to award praise or jironounce 
condemnation. In such a revolution men are like 
insects that fret and toss in the storm, but are 
swept onward by the resistless movements of ele- 
ments beyond their control. I speak of this revo- 
lution not to praise the men who aided it, or to 
censure the men who resisted it, but as a force to 
be studied, as a mandate to be ol^eyed. 

In the year 1620 there were planted upon this 
continent two ideas irreconcilably hostile to each 
other. Ideas arc the great warriors of the world ; 
and a war that has no ideas behind it is simply 
brutality. The two ideas were landed, one at 
Plymouth Rock, from the Maijjlou'er, and the other 
from a Dutch brig at Jamestown , Virginia. One was 
the old doctrine of Luther, that private judgment, 
in politics as well as religion, is the right and duty 
of every man ; and the other, that capital should 

26 



402 CHIPS FROM THE WHITE HOUSE. 

own labor, that the negi'o had no rights of man- 
hood, and the white man might justly buy, own, 
and sell him and his offspring forever. Thus free- 
dom and equality on the one hand, and on the 
other the slavery of one race and the domination of 
another, were the two germs planted on this con- 
tinent. In our vast expanse of wilderaess, for 
a long time, there was room for both ; and their 
advocates begTin the race across the continent, 
each developing the social and political institutions 
of their choice. Both had vast interests in com- 
mon ; and for a long time neither was conscious 
of the fatal antagonisms that were developing. 

For nearly two centuries there was no serious 
collision ; but when the continent began to fill up, 
and the people began to jostle against each other ; 
when the Roundhead and the Cavalier came near 
enough to measure opinions, the irreconcilable 
character of the two doctrines began to appear. 
INIany conscientious men studied the subject, and 
came to the belief that slavery was a crime, a sin, 
or, as Wesley said, ' the sum of all villanies.' 
This belief dwelt in small minorities for a lona; 
time. It lived in the churches and vestries, but 
later found its Avay into the civil and political 
organizations of the countr}% and finally found its 
way into this chamber. A few brave, clear-sighted, 
far-seeing men announced it here, a little more 
than a generation ago. A predecessor of mine. 






JAMES A. GArFIELD. 403 

Joshua R. Giddinsrs, followins; the lead of John 
Quincy Adams, of Massachusetts, ahnost alone 
held up the banner on this floor, and from year to 
year comrades came to his side. Through evil 
and through good report he pressed the question 
upon the conscience of the nation, and bravely 
stood in his place in this House, until his white 
locks, like the plume of Henry of Navarre, showed 
where the battle of freedom raged most fiercely. 

And so the contest continued ; the supporters 
of slavery believing honestly and sincerely that 
slavery was a divine institution ; that it found its 
hi2:h sanctions in the livin<T oracles of God and in 
a wise political philosophy ; that it was justified 
by the necessities of their situation ; and that 
slave-holders were missionaries to the dark sons 
of Africa, to elevate and bless them. We are so 
far past the passions of that early time that we 
can now study the progress of the struggle as a 
great and inevitable development, without sharing 
in the crimination and recrimination that attended 
it. If both sides could have seen that it was a 
contest beyond their control ; if both parties could 
have realized the truth that " unsettled questions 
have no })it3^ for the repose of nations," much less 
for the fate of political parties, the bitterness, the 
sorrow, the tears, and the blood might have been 
avoided. But we walked in the darkness, our 
paths obscured by the smoke of the conflict, each 



404 CHirS FROM THE AVIIITE HOUSE. 

following his own convictions through ever-increas- 
ing fierceness, until the debute culminated in " tliG 
last aro-ument to which kings resort." 

This conflict of opinion was not merely one of 
sentimental feeling ; it involved our whole politi- 
cal system ; it gave rise to two radically dijGerent 
theories of the nature of our government ; the 
North l>elievino: and holding that wc were a nation, 
the South insisting that we were only a confedera- 
tion of sovereign States, and insisting that each 
State had the riglit, at its own discretion, to break 
the Union, and constantly threatening secession 
where the full rights of slavery were not acknowl- 
edged. 

Thus the defence and aggrandizement of slavery, 
and the hatred of abolitionism, became not only 
the central idea of the Democratic partj^ but its 
master passion, — a passion intensified and in- 
flamed by twenty-five years of fierce political con- 
test, which had not only driven from its ranks all 
those who preferred freedom to slavery, but had 
absorbed all the extreme pro-slavery elements of 
the fallen Whig party. Over against this was 
arrayed the Republican part}', asserting the broad 
doctrines of nationality and loyalty, insisting that 
no State had a riofht to secede, that secession was 
treason, and demanding that the institution of 
slavery should be restricted to the limits of the 
States where it already existed. But here and 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 405 

there many l^older and more radical thnikers de- 
clared, with Wendell Phillips, that there never 
could be miion and peace, freedom and prosperity, 
irtitil we were willino- to see John Hancock under 
a black skin. 

]Mr. Chairman, ought the Republican party to 
surrender its truncheon of command to the Democ- 
racy? The gentleman from ]\Iississii)pi says, if 
this were England, the ministry would go out in 
twenty-four hours with such a state of things as we 
have here. All, yes ! that is an ordinary case of 
change of administration. But if this were Eng- 
land, what would she have done at the end of the 
war? England made one such mistake as the 
gentleman asks this country to make, Avhen she 
threw away the achievements of the grandest man 
that ever trod her highway of power. Oliver 
Cromwell had overturned the throne of despotic 
power, and had lifted his country to a place of 
masterful greatness among the nations of the earth ; 
and when, after his death, his great sceptre was 
transferred to a weak thou<2:h not unlineal hand, his 
countr}', in a moment of reactionary l)lindness, 
brought back the Stuarts. England did not re- 
cover from that folly until, in 1689, the Prince of 
Orange drove from her island the last of that weak 
and wicked line. Did she afterward repeat the 
blunder? 



406 CHIPS FROM THE WHITE HOUSE. 

I am aware that there is a general disposition 
" to let by~gones be by-gones," and to judge of 
parties and of men, not by what they have been, 
but by what they are and what they propose. 

That view is partly just and partly. erroneous. 
It is just and wise to bury resentments and an- 
imosities. It is erroneous in this, that parties have 
an organic life and spirit of their own — an individ- 
uality and character which outlive the men who 
compose them ; and the spirit and traditions of a 
party should be considered in determining their 
fitness for managing the afiairs of a nation. 

I will close by calling your attention again to 
the great problem before us. Over this vast hori- 
zon of interests North and South, above all party 
prejudices and personal wrong-doing, aljove our 
battle hosts and our victorious cause, above all 
that we hoped for and Avon, or you hoped for and 
lost, is the grand, onward movement of the Re- 
public to perj)etuate its glory, to save liberty alive, 
to preserve exact and equal justice to all, to pro- 
tect and foster all these priceless principles, until 
they shall have crystalized into the form of endur- 
ing law, and become inwrought into the life and 
the habits of our people. 

xVnd, until these great results are accomplished, 
it is not safe to take one step backward. It is still 
more unsafe to trust interests of such measureless 



1 



JAMES A. OAr.FIELD. 407 

value in the hands of an organization whose mem- 
bers have never comprehended their epoch, have 
never been in sympathy with its great movements, 
who have resisted every step of its pi'ogress, and 
whose principal function has been 

" ' To lie in cold obstruction ' 
across the pathway of the nation. 

" No, no, gentlemen, our enlightened and pa 
triotic people will not follow such leaders in the 
rearward march. Their myriad faces are turned 
the other way ; and along their serried lines still 
rings the cheering cry, ' Forward ! till our great 
work is fully and worthily accomplished.' " 

[From a Speech in Congress, 1866.] 

Duties should be so high that our manufacturers 
can fairly compete with the foreign product, but 
not so high as to enable them to drive out the for- 
eign article, enjo}- a monopoly of the trade, and 
regulate the price as they please. This is my doc- 
trine of protection. ... I am for a protection that 
leads to ultimate free trade. I am for that free 
trade which can only be achieved through a reason- 
able protection. 

[Letter to A. B. Hinsdale.] 

Washington, January 1, 1867. 

I am less satisfied with the present aspect of pub- 
lic aflairs than I have been for a lonar time. . . . 



408 CHIPS Fr.o:\r ttie ^^^IITE norsE. 

Reully there seems to be a fear on the part of many 
of our friends that they may do some absurdly 
extravagant thing to prove their radicalism. I am 
trying to do two things : dare to be a radical and 
not be a fool, which, if I may judge by the exhibi- 
tions around me, is a matter of no small difficulty. 
. . . My own course is chosen, and it is quite 
probable it will throw me out of public life. 

We provide for the common defence by a system 
which promotes the general welfare. 

[From an Address at Hiram College, June 14, 1867.] 

It is to me a perpetual wonder how an}' cliild's 
love of knowledo^e survives the outrao-es of the 
school-house. I, for one, declare that no child of 
mine shall ever be compelled to study one hour, or 
to learn even the English alphabet, before he has 
deposited under liis sldn at least seven years of 
muscle and bone. 

[From the Same.] 

I 

The student should study himself, liis relations I 
to society, to nature, and to art, and above all, in 
all, and thi'ough all these, he should study the rela- 
tions of himself, society, nature, and art, to God, 
the Author of them all. 



JAMES A. OATIFIELT). 40^ 

[From the Sume.] 

It is well to know the history of those mruynifi- 
cent nations whose origin is lost in fahle, and 
^V'hose epitaphs were written a thousand years ago 
— but if we cannot know both, it is far better to 
study the history of our own nation, whose origin 
we can trace to the freest and noisiest aspirations 
of the human heart — a nation that was formed 
from the hardiest, purest, and most enduring ele- 
ments of European civilization — a nation that, l)y 
its faith and courage, has dared and accomplished 
more for the human race in a single century than 
Europe accomplished in the lirst thousand years 
of the Christian era. The New England township 
was the type afier which our Federal Government 
was modelled ; yet it would be rare to find a col- 
lege student who can make a comprehensi^'e and 
intelligible statement of the municipal organization 
of the township in which he was born, and tell you 
by what officers its legislative, judicial, and execu- 
tive functions were administered. One half of 
the lime which is now almost vrasted, in district 
schools, on Enghsh Grammar, attempted at too 
earl}'^ an age, would be sufficient to teach our chil- 
dren to love the I\epul)hc, and to become its loyal 
and life-long supi)0i-tcrs. After the Idoody l)ap- 
tism from which the nation has arisen to a higher 
and nol)ler life, if this shameful defet-t in our sys- 



410 CHIPS FROM THE >VHITE HOUSE. 

tern of education be not speedily remedied, we 
shall deserve the infinite contempt of future gene- 
rations, I insist that it should be made an indis- 
pensable condition of graduation in every American 
college, that the student must understand the his- 
tory of this continent since its discovery by Euro- 
peans, the origin and history of the United States, 
its constitution of o|;overnment, the strusfijles throuo'h 
which it has passed, and the rights and duties of 
citizens who are to determine its destiny and share 
its^lory. 

Having thus rained the knowledo-e which is 
necessary to life, health, industry, and citizenship, 
the student is prepared to enter a wider and grand • 
er field of thought. If he desires that large and 
liberal culture, which will call into activity all his 
powers, and make the most of the material God 
has given him, he must study deeply and earnestly 
the intellectual, the moral, the religious, and the 
aesthetic nature of man ; his relations to nature, to 
civilization, past and present, and above all, his 
relations to God. These should occupy nearly, if 
not fully, half the time of his college course. In 
connection with the philosophy of the mind, he 
should study logic, the pure mathematics, and the 
general laws of thought. In connection with moral 
philosophy, he should study political and social 
ethics — a science so little known either in colleges 
or congresses. Prominent among all the rest 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 411 

should be bis study of tbe wonderful history of the 
human race, in its sIoav and toilsome march across 
tbe centuries — now buried in ignorance, supersti- 
tion and crime ; now rising to tbe sublimity of 
heroism and catching a glimpse of a better destiny ; 
now turning remorselessly away from, and leaving 
to perish, empires and civilizations in which it had 
hivested its faith, and courage, and boundless en- 
ergy for a thousand years, and plunging into the 
forests of Germany, Gaul, and Britain, to build for 
itself new empires, better fitted for its new aspira- 
tions ; and, at last, crossing three thousand miles 
of unknown sea, and building in the wilderness of 
a new hemisphere its latest and proudest monu- 
ments. 



[Speech in the House of Representatives, February 12, 1867.] 

I cannot forget that we have learned slowly. 
... I cannot forj^et that less than five years ago 
I received an order from my superior oflicer com- 
manding me to search my camp for a fugitive 
slave, and if found, to deliver him up to a Ken- 
tucky captain who claimed him as his property ; 
and / had the honor to be perhaps the first officer 
ill the ariiif/ tcho peremptorily refused to obey such 
an order. We were then trying to save the Union 
without hurting slavery. ... It took us two years 
to reach a pomt where we were willing to do the 



412 CHIPS FEOM THE WHITE HOUSE. 

most meagi'e justice to the lilack man, and to rec- 
ognize the truth that 

" A man's a man for a' that! " 

Sir, the hand of God has been visible in this 
work, leading us by degrees out of the blindness 
of our prejudices, to see that the fortunes of the 
Repul^lic and the safety of the party of liberty are 
inseparably bound up with the rights of the black 
man. At last our party must see that if it would 
preserve its political life, or maintain the safety of 
the Republic, we must do justice to the humblest 
man in the Nation, whether black or Avhite. I 
thank God that to-day we have struck the rock ; 
we have planted our feet upon solid earth. Streams 
of lio'ht will ijleam out from the luminous truth 
embodied in the legislation of this day. This is 
the ne pliia nltni of reconstruction, and I hope we 
shall have the courage to go before our people 
everywhere with "This or nothing" for our motto. 

Now, sir, as a temporary measure, I give my 
support to this military bill properly restricted. 
It is severe. It was written with a steel pen made 
out of a bayonet ; and bayonets have done us 
good service hitherto. All I ask is that Congress 
shall place civil governments before these people 
of the rebel States, and a cordon of bayonets 
behind them. 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 413 

Now, what does this bill propose? It lays the 
hands of the Nation upon the rebel State govern- 
ments, and takes the breath of life out of them. 
It puts the bayonet at the breast of every rel)el 
murderer in the South to bring him to justice. It 
commands the army to protect the life and prop- 
erty of citizens whether black or Avhite. It places 
in the hands of Congress absolutelj^ and irrevo- 
cably the whole work of reconstruction. 

With this thunderbolt in our hands shall w^e 
stao-crer like idiots under its weio;ht? Have we 
grasped a weapon which we have neither the 
courage nor the wusdom to wield ? 

WILLI A3I H. SEAVARD.* 

When in Europe in 1867, my attention w^as 
particularly drawn to the significant fact that the 
pictures of Lincoln and Seward were the only por- 
traits of American statesmen that w^ere nota])ly 
prominent, and that these were everywhere seen 
together. I asked a Frenchman of distinction w^hy 

* " Anothei- talk that I recall was at a social gathering. Tt 
was at a dinner-party, after the failure of Greeley's cam- 
paign. The host was, perhaps, the most original genius in 
"Washington. lie was an old companion of GreeU^y at 
Broftk Farm. lie was giving the dinner in payment of a 
bet lie had lost by reason of Greeley's defeat. The conver- 
sation embraced all the topics of the day, and, in the coui'se 
of it, turned to Seward. A member of the company 
thought that Seward had been dead years before he was put 



414 CHIPS FROM THE WHITE HOUSE. 

Seward was held in such high estimation ; and his 
answer most seriously impressed me with the 
thought that perhaps, after all the slanders of his 
detractors, Mr. Seward had builded for the future 
more wisely than we knew. This gentleman said : 
" Mr. Seward is the American statesman who looms 
up the most prominently from over the water. 
His diplomacy in Mexico has placed the imprint of 
greatness upon his name. Halting for a moment 
in the midst of the turmoil of the civil Avar, with 
his pen he dismembered the coalition organized to 
place Maximilian upon the Mexican throne, and 
thus placed the first mine under the throne of the 
Third Bonaparte. He has undertaken what the 
combined powers of Europe have not ventured to 
essay — to break the sceptre of the Second Em- 
pire." The views entertained by this distinguished 
Frenchman seem also to have been held in Mexico, 
for upon the occasion of the death of Mr. Seward, 
the press of that country all made the most grate- 
ful mention of liis services in that regard. 

into the gi-ave. General Garfield thought differently, and 
delivered, on the spar of the moment, a remarkable eulogy 
on the dead statesman. Soon afterward, I reduced to notes 
the outlines of tliat eulogy, so far as my memoiy served 
me, and I reproduce it here. General Garfield possesses 
rare conversational powers, and uses, in social discourse, a 
diction not less eloquent and elegant than that to which he 
is accustomed in tlie forum." — Washington Correspondent 
of the Chicago Tribune. 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 415 

The enthusiasm of this Frenchman, continued 
General Gartiekl, had not perished from my 
memory later when public duties called me to the 
State Department. The Alaska treaty had just 
been siofned. I found the Sao-e of Auburn alone, 
in the thoughtful mood so common to him when 
meditating upon great subjects. Our conversation 
fell upon himself, and I found that he had been 
meditating upon his withdrawl from public life. 
He had been eight years in the second highest 
place in this Nation. He had almost had the 
Presidency within his grasp ; but the displeasure 
of his party had fallen upon him, and he was about 
to retire from the political arena. He told me that 
power was sweet to him ; that he clung even then 
fondly to its shadow ; and that he relinquished his 
Rceptre with regret. His exact language, in speak- 
ing of his past career was : '' It is unpleasant to 
yield up power." The conversation turned upon 
Alaska. The Secretary fell into the dream-like 
attitude that was never seen except by those who 
were familiar with him, and commenced to explain 
his theory of the Alaska purchase in forcible, pro- 
phetic, almost pathetic words which I never shall 
forget. I left the room then with grander ideas 
of the man than I had ever entertained before. His 
con\'ersation indicated that he had been following 
a particular course of study, for he remarked that, 
to his notion, the two greatest books of the century 



41 G CHIPS FJtOM THE AVHITE H(3USE. 

"were ]\Iarsh's " Man in Nuluiv^,"' and the Duke of 
Argyll's " Eeign of Law." The application of Ar- 
gyll's theory of law as applied to political develop- 
ment, Mr. Seward had evidently studied with much 
care. He had been reasoning upon natural laws 
as they aifect a nation. He had been speculating 
upon the elementary forces of a nation's grandeur, 
and upon the contrivance in combining them to 
make them operate in a direction desired.- This 
theory was founded upon the possibility of tracing 
these forces in history, and of discovering the 
operation of these laws under conditions which had 
actually determined the course of mankind and 
nations in definite directions. The text of his 
theor}^ was the liistory of the world's seas. History 
had tauoht him that the grandest achievements of 
man had been associated with the shores of the 
world's seas. To go back no further than the be- 
ginning of the Christian era, the most sacred, 
solemn story of the hopes of man had been written 
m Avanderinos on the banks of the Sea of Galilee. 
With the progress of Christian ciAilization, thus 
sea-born, the advancing tide of human progress 
was staid by the banks of the ^Mediterranean. It 
was along the borders of this sea that the Byzantine 
Empire flourished and was destroyed ; that Rome 
attained her supremacy, and fell. AVith the pro- 
gress of time, and the advance of civilization west- 
ward, the Atlantic took the place of the Galilean 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 417 

Sea and of the Mediterranean. It is the sea of the 
present. But unless the laws of political geogra- 
phy are false, the contests of the future are to be 
around the shores of the " still sea," noAv our own 
Pacific. The nation of the future is the nation that 
holds the key of those waters. The purchase of 
Alaska has given our Republic a foothold on ])oth 
sides of that sea. It is a geographical impossiliil- 
ity that any other nation can occupy a position in 
its own territory upon l)oth sides of the Pacific. 
This is the theory of the purchase. It secures the 
control of the Pacific to the young Republic. It 
assures the future of the world's dominion to 
Yankee civilization. This was the theory. 

And liis outlook, said General Garfield, with en- 
thusiasm, was grand. In his political horoscope, 
he saw the Republic enjoying a prosperity of which 
the annals of human afl'airs had furnished no ex- 
ample ; he saw our country rising to the place of 
umpire among the world's powers ; he saw how, 
by wise statesmanship, our material prosperity and 
peaceful conquests grew together ; how our in- 
creasing commerce made us mistress of the seas ; 
how Western civilization and Oriental decrepitude 
were staid upon the borders of that Pacific sea, and 
compelled to render homage to Young America, 
who had become the keeper of the MorkVs keys. 

These were the grand thoughts of Mr. Seward 
as he Mas about to relinquish the mantle of his 

27 



418 CHIPS FROM THE AVHITE HOUSE. 

power, and, continued General Garfield, his views 
have left a lasting impression upon me. Mr. 
Seward could not have died more successfully than 
he did. He passed away in the lull between two 
elections, and received the merited eulogiums of 
both parties. He bore success followed by failure 
better than any American I know. He was for 
nearly a decade next to the source of power, and 
missed the place which was the goal of his later 
years, retiring from pubhc life suffering the dis- 
pleasure of his party. But he quietly retired to 
private life, and never lost his genial spirit or his 
noble ways. 

[This report of the conversation is indorsed by 
General Garfield as " in the main correct." 

J. C] 

[Speech on the Currency Question, 1868.] 

As a medium of exchange, money is to all busi- 
ness transactions what ships are to the transporta- 
tion of merchandise. If a hundred vessels, of a 
given tonnage, are just sufficient to carry all the 
commodities between two ports, any increase of 
the number of vessels will correspondingly decrease 
the value of each as an instrument of commerce ; 
any decrease below one hundred will correspond- 
ingly increase the value of each. If the number 
be doubled, each will carry but half its usual frciglit, 
will be worth but half its former value for that 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 419 

ti'ade. There is so much work to be done, and no 
more. A hunch-eJ vessels can do it all. A thou- 
sand can do no more than all. 

"When the money of the country is gold and sil- 
ver, it adapts itself to the fluctuations of business 
vrithout the aid of legislation. If at any time wo 
have more than is needed, the surplus flows ofl" to 
other countries throuo'h the channels of interna- 
tional commerce. If less, the deficiency is sup- 
plied through the same channels. Thus the mone- 
tary equilibrium is maintained. So immense is 
the trade of the world, that the golden streams 
pouring from California and Australia into the 
specie circulation are soon absorbed in the great 
mass, and equalized throughout the world, as the 
waters of all the rivers are spread upon the surface 
of all the seas. 

Not so, however, with an inconvertible paper 
currency. Excepting the specie used in payment 
of customs and the interest on our public debt, we 
are cut ofl* from the money currents of the w^orld. 
Our currency resembles rather the waters of an 
artificial lake, which lie in stagnation or rise to full 
banks at the caprice of the gate-keeper. 

[A Speech on Currency and the Banks, 1870.] 

The business of the country' is like the level of 
the ocean, from which all measurements are made 



420 CHIPS FEOM THE WniTE HOUSE. 

of heights and depths. Thougli tides and cuvrents 
may for a time disturb, and temi)ests vex and toss 
its surface, still through calm and storm the grand 
level rules all its waves and lays its measuring- 
lines on every shore. So the business of the coun- 
try, which, in the aggregated demands of the peo- 
ple for the exchange of values, marks the ebb and 
flow, the rise and fall of the currents of trade, and 
forms the base-line from which to measure all our 
financial legislation, and is the only safe rule by 
which the volume of our currency can be deter- 
mined. 



The State bank system was a chaos of I'uin, in 
which the business of the country was again and 
again ingulfed. The people rejoice that it has 
been swept away, and they will not consent to its 
re-establishment. In its place we have the Na- 
tional-bank system, based on the bonds of the 
United States, and sharing the safety and credit 
of the government. Their notes are made secure, 
first, by a deposit of government bonds, Avorth at 
least ten per cent, more than the whole value of 
the notes ; second, by a paramount lien on all the 
assets of the banks ; third, the personal liability 
of all the shareholders to an amount equal to the 
Gtipital they hold ; and, fourth, the absolute guar- 
antee by the government to redeem them at the 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 421 

National Treasury if the banks fail to do so. In- 
stead of seven thousand difTerent varieties of notes, 
as in the State system, we have now but ten varie 
ties, each uniform in character and appearance. 
Like our flag, they bear the stamp of nationality, 
and are honored in every jjart of the Union. 

[From a Sj^eech in the House, April 1, 1870.] 

As an abstract theory of poHtical economy free- 
trade has many advocates, and much can be said 
in its favor ; nor will it l)e denied that the scholar- 
ship of modern times is largely on that side ; that 
a large majority of the great thinkers of the pres- 
ent day are leading in the direction of what is 
called free-trade. 

While this is true, it is equally undeniable that 
the principle of protection has always been recog- 
nized and adopted in some form or another by all 
nations, and is to-day, to a greater or less extent, 
the policy of every civilized government 

Protection, in its practical meaning, is that pro- 
vident care for the industry and development of 
our own country which ^vAW give our own peo})le 
an equal chance in the pursuit of wealth, and save 
us from the calamity of being dependent upon 
other nations with whom we may any day be at 
war. 

In so far as the doctrine of free-trade is a pro- 



422 CHIPS FEOM THE WHITE HOUSE. 

test against the old system of oppression and pro- 
hibition, it is a healthy and worthy sentiment. 
But underlying all theories, there is a strong and 
deep conviction in the minds of a great majority 
of our people in favor of protecting American in- 
dustry 



[Speech on the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution, 
April -1, 1871.] 

Nothing more aptly describes the char- 
acter of our Republic than the solar system, 
launched into space by the hand of the Creator, 
where the central sun is the great power around 
which revolve all the planets in their appointed 
orbits. But wliile the sun holds in the grasp of 
its attractive power the whole system, and imparts 
its light and heat to all, yet each individual planet 
is under the sway of laws peculiar to itself. 

Under the sway of terrestrial laws, winds blow, 
waters flow, and all the tenantries of the planet 
live and move. So, sir, the States move on in 
their orbits of duty and obedience, bound to the 
central government by this Constitution, which is 
their supreme law ; while each State is making 
laws and regulations of its own, developing its 
own energies, maintaining its own industries, 
managing its local affairs in its own way, subject 
only to the supreme but beneficent control of the 



JABIES A. GARFIELD. 423 

Union. When State-rights ran mad, put on the 
form of secession, and attempted to drag the States 
out of the Union, we saw the'grand lesson, taught 
in all the l)attles of the late war, that a State could 
no more be hurled from the Union, without ruin 
to the nation, than could a planet be thrown from 
its orbit without dragging after it, to chaos and 
ruin, the whole solar universe. 

In 1865 we had a debt of two billions seven 
hundred and seventy-two millions of dollars upon 
our hands, the debt accumulated from the great 
results of the war ; we were compelled to pay 
from that debt one hundred and fifty-one millions 
of dollars in coin a year as interest, and that was a 
dreadful annual burden. In the year after the 
war ended, we paid five hundred and ninety mil- 
lions of dollars over our counter in settling the 
business of the war and maintaining the ordinary 
expenses of the government. These tremendous 
burdens it seemed for a time we could not carry, 
and there were wicked men, and despairing men, 
and men who said we ought not to try to carry the 
burdens ; but the brave nation said. This burden is 
the price of our country's life, all through it there 
is the price of blood and the price of liberty, and, 
therefore, we will bow our knees to the burden, 
we will carry it upon the stalwart shoulders of the 
nation. 



424 CHIPS FEOM THE WHITE HOUSE. 

[Letter to Professor Demmon, December 16, 1871.] 
Since I entered public life, I have con- 



stantly aimed to find a little time to keep alive the 
spirit of my classical studies, and to resist that 
constant tendency, which all public men feel, to 
grow rusty in literary studies, and particularly in 
the classical studies. I have thought it better to 
select some one line of classical reading, and, if 
possible, do a little work on it each day. For 
this winter I am determined to review such parts 
of the Odes of Horace as I may be able to reach. 
And, as preliminary to that work, I have begun 
by reading up the bibliography of Horace. 

The Congressional Library is very rich in ma- 
terials for this stud}--, and I am amazed to find how 
deep and universal has been the impress left on 
the cultivated mind of the world by Horace's 
writings. 

The Student should study himself, his relation 
to Society, to Nature and to Art — and above all, 
in all, and through all these, he should study the 
relations of Himself, Society, Natm'e, and Art to 
God the Author of them all. 

Greek is perhaps the most perfect instrument 
of Thought ever invented by Man, and its Litera- 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 425 

ture has never been equalled in purity of style and 
boldness of expression. 



History is but tlie unrolled scroll of Prophecy. 
The world's history is a divine Poem, of which the 
history of e^ery nation is a canto, and every man 
a w^ord. Its strains have been pealing along down 
the centuries, and though there have l^een mingled 
the discords of warring cannon and dying men, 
yet to the Christian, Philosopher, and Historian — 
the hum1)le listener — there has been a divine 
melody running through the song which speaks 
of hope and halcyon days to come. 



The lesson of History is rarely learned by the 
actors themselves. 



Theoloa'ians in all ages have looked out admir- 
ingly upon the material universe, and from its 
inanimate existences demonstrated the Power, 
Wisdom, and Goodness of God ; but Ave know of 
no one who has demonstrated the same attributes 
from the History of the human race. 

Mankind have been slow to belieAC that order 
reigns in the universe, that the world is a Cosmos, 
not a chaos. 



42 G CHIPS FROM THE WHITE HOUSE. 

The assertion of the reign of Law has been 
stubbornly resisted at every step. The divinities 
of Heathen superstition still linger in one form or 
another in the faith of the ignorant, and even 
many intelligent men shrink from the contem- 
plation of one Supreme Will acting regularly, not 
fatuitousl}^, through laws beautiful and simple, 
rather than through a fitful and capricious Provi- 
dence. 

English liberty to-day rests not so much on the 
government as on those rights which the people 
have wrested from the government. The rights 
of the Englishman outnumber the rights of the 
Eno;lishman's king. 

Poetry is the language of Freedom. 

Liberty can be safe only when Suffrage is illu- 
minated by education. 

[Speech on the last Census.] 

The developments of statistics are causing his- 
tory to be re-written. Till recently the historian 
studied nature in the aggi-egate, and gave us only 
the story of princes, dynasties, sieges, and battles. 
Of the people themselves — the great social body, 
with life, growth, forces, elements, etc. — he told 
us nothing. Now, statistical inquiry leads us into 
the hovels, houses, workshops, mines, fields, pris- 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 427 

ons, hospitals, and all places "where human nature 
displays its weakness and strength. In these 
explorations he discovers the seeds of national 
growth and decay, and thus becomes the prophet 
of his generation. 

Statistical science is indispensable to modern 
statesmanship. In legislation, as in physical sci- 
ence, it is beo'innins: to be understood that we can 
control terrestrial forces only by obeying their 
laws. The legislator must formulate in his statis- 
tics not only the national will but also those great 
laws of social Ufe revealed by statistics. He must 
study society rather than black-letter learning. 
He must learn the truth that " society usually pre- 
pares the crime, and the criminal is only the in- 
strument that completes it," that statesmanship 
consists rather in removing causes than in pun- 
ishing, or evading results. 

[Speech on National Aid to Education, February 6, 1872.] 

We look sometimes with great admiration at a 
government Hke Germany, that can command the 
hght of its education to shine everywhere, that can 
enforce its school laws everywhere throughout the 
Empire. Under our system we do not rejoice in 
that, but we rather rejoice that here two forces 
play with all their vast power upon our s}'stcm of 
education. The first is that of the local municipal 
power under our State .government. There is the 



428 CHIPS FROM THE AVIIITE HOUSE. 

centre of responsibility. There is the chief edu- 
cational power 

But tliere is another force even s^reater than that 
of the State and the local governments. It is the 
force of private voluntary enterprise, that force 
M'hich has built up the multitude of private schools, 
academies, and colleges throughout the United 
States, not always wisely, but always with enthu- 
siasm and w^onderful energy. 

I am considering what is the best system of 
oro'anizing the educational work of a nation, not 
from the political stand-point alone, but from the 
stand-point of the school-house itself. This work 
of public education partakes in a peculiar way of 
the spirit of the human mind in its efforts for 
culture. The mind must be as free from extra- 
neous control as possible ; must work under the 
inspiration of its own desires for knowledge ; 
and while instructors and books are necessary 
helps, the fullest and highest success must spring 
from the power of self-help. 

So the best system of education is that which 
draws its chief support from the voluntary effort 
of the community, from the individual effort of 
citizens, and from those ])urdcns of taxation which 
they voluntarily impose upon themselves. . . . 
Government shall be only a help to them, rather 
than a commander, in the work of education. 



JAMES A. GAEFIELD. 429 

I would rather be beaten in Ri2:ht than succeed 
in Wronsr. 

Present evils always seem greater than those 
that never come. 

Poverty is uncomfortable, as I can testify ; but 
nine times out of ten the best thing that can hap- 
pen to a young man is to be tossed overboard and 
compelled to sink or swim for himself. In all my 
acc|uaiBtance I never knew a man to be drowned 
who was worth the saving. 

For the noblest man that lives there still re- 
mains a conflict. 

Ko man can make a speech alone. It is the 
great human power that strikes up from a thousand 
minds that acts upon him and makes the speech. 

After iLe battle of Arms comes the battle of 
History. 

There is f, fellowship among the Virtues by 
which one great, generous passion stimulates 
another. 

Growth is better than Permanence, and per- 
manent gro^vth is better than all. 

The principles of Ethics have not changed by 
the lapse of years. 



430 CHIPS FROM THE WHITE HOU8E. 

The possession of great power no doubt carries 
with it a contempt for mere external show. 

[From a Speech on Repealing the Salary Clause, 1873.] 

One of the brightest and greatest of men I 
know in this nation [Louis Agassiz] , a man who, 
perhaps, has done as much for its intellectual life 
as any other, told me not many months ago that 
he had made it the rule of his life to abandon any 
intellectual pursuit the moment it became com- 
mercially valuable ; that others would utilize what 
he had discovered ; that his field of work was 
above the line of commercial values, and when he 
brought down the o-i'eat truths of science from the 
upper heights to the level of commercial values, 
a thousand hands would be ready to take them, 
and make them more valuable in the markets of 
the world. He entered upon his great career, not 
for the salary it gave him, for that was meagre 
compared with the pay of those in the lower 
walks of life ; but he followed the promptings of 
his great nature, and worked for the love of truth 
and the instruction of manldnd. 

[Letter to B. A. Hinsdale, 1874.] 

The worst days of darkness through which I 
have ever passed have been greatly alleviated by 
throwing mj'self with all my energy into some 
work relating to others. 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 431 



[Speech on the Currency and the Pubh'c Faith, April 8, 
187i.] 

There never did exist on this earth a body of 
men wise enough to determine \)y any arbitrary 
rule how much currency is needed for the business 
of a great countr3^ The laws of trade, the laws 
of credit, the laws of God impressed upon the 
elements of tliis world, are superior to all legisla- 
tion ; and wc can cnjo}^ the benefits of these immu- 
table laws only l)y obeying them. 

It has been demonstrated again and again that 
upon the artisans, the farmers, the clay-laborers 
falls at last the dead weight of all the depreciation 
and loss that irredeemable paper-money carries in 
its train. Let this policy be carried out, and the 
day will surely and speedily come when the nation 
will clearly trace the cause of its disaster to those 
who deluded themselves and the people with what 
Jefierson fitly called ' ' legerdemain tricks of paper- 
money." 

[Speech on the Railway Problem, June 22, 1874.] 

We are so involved in the events and moAements 
of society that we do not stop to reahze — what is 
undeniably true — that during the last forty years 
all modern societies have entered upon a period 
of change more marked, more pervading, more 



432 CHIPS FROM THE WHITE HOUSE. 

radical than any that has occurred during the last 
three hundred years. In saying this, I do not for- 
get our own political and militar}' history, nor the 
French Kevolution of 17U3. The changes now 
taking place have been wrought, and are being 
wrought, mainly, almost wholly, by a single me- 
chanical contrivance, the steam locomotive. Im- 
agine, if you can, what would happen if to-morrow 
morning the railway locomotive, and its corollary, 
the telegraph, were blotted from the earth. At 
first thought, it would seem impossible to get on at 
all with the feeble sulxstitutes v>^e should be com- 
pelled to adopt in place of these great forces. To 
what humble proportions mankind would be com- 
pelled to scale down the great enterprises they are 
now pushing forward with such ease ! But were 
this calamity to happen, we should simply be 
placed where we were forty-three years ago. 

There are many persons now living who well 
remember the day when Andrew Jackson, after 
four weeks of toilsome travel from his home in 
Tennessee, reached Washington and took his first 
oath of office as President of the United States. 
On that day the railway locomotive did not exist. 
During that year Henrj^ Clay was struggling to 
make liis name immortal by linking it with the 
then vast project of building a national road — a 
turnpike — from the national capital to the banks 
of tlie Mississippi. 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 433 

In the autumn of that very year Geoige Ste- 
phenson ran liis iirst experimental locomotiA'e, the 
*' Kocket," from INIanchcster to Liverpool and back. 
The rumble of its wheels, redoubled a milUon 
times, is echoing to-da}' on every continent. 

The American people have done much for the 
locomotive, and it has done much for them. We 
have akeady seen that it has greatly reduced, if 
not wholly destroyed, the danger that the govern- 
ment will fall to pieces by its own weight. The 
railroad has not only brought our people and their 
industries together, l)ut it has carried civilization 
into the wilderness, has built up States and Terri- 
tories, wliich, but for its power, would have re- 
mained deserts for a century to come. "Abroad 
and at home," as Mr. Adams tersely declares, " it 
has equally nationalized people and cosmopolizcd 
nations." It has played a most important part in 
the recent movement for the uniiication and pres- 
ervation of nations. 

It enabled us to do what the old military science 
had pronounced impossible — to conquer a revolted 
population of eleven milhons, ocjcupying a territory 
one-fifth as large as the continent of Europe. In 
an able essay on the railway system, ]Mr. Charles 
F. Adams, Jr. has pointed out some of the remark- 
able achievements of the railroad in our recent 
history. For example, a single railroad track 

28 



434 CHIPS FROM THE WHITE HOUSE. 

enabled Sherman to maintain eighty thousand fight- 
ing men three hundred miles beyond his base of 
supplies. Another line, in a space of seven days, 
brought a re-enforcement of two ftilly equippeu 
army corps around a circuit of thirteen hundre(? 
miles, to strengthen an army at a threatened point. 
He calls attention to the still more striking fact 
that for ten years past, with fifteen hundred mil- 
lions of our indebtedness abroad, an enormous debt 
at home, unparalleled public expenditures, and a 
depreciated paper currency, in defiance of all past 
exi^crience, we have been steadily conquering our 
difficulties, have escaped the predicted collapse, 
and are promptly meeting our engagements ; be- 
cause, through energetic railroad development, tho 
country has been producing real wealth, as no 
country has produced it before. Finally, he sums 
up the case by declaring that the locomotive has 
*' dragged the country through its difiicultics in 
spite of itself." 

In the darkness and chaos of that period, the 
feudal system was the first important step toward 
the organization of modern nations. Powerful 
chiefs and barons intrenched themselves in castles, 
and, in return for submission and service, gave to 
their vassals rude protection and ruder laws. But 
as the feudal chiefs grew in power and wealth, 
iJiey became the oppressors of their people, taxed 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 435 

and robbed them at will, and finalh^ in theii arro- 
gance, defied the kings and emperoi's of the Medi- 
aeval States. From their castles, planted on the 
great thoroughfares, they practised the most capri- 
cious extortions on commerce and travel, and thus 
gave to modern language the phrase, "levy black- 
mail." 

The consolidation of our great industrial and 
commercial companies, the power they wield, and 
the relations they sustain to the State and to the 
industry of the people, do not full far short of 
Fourier's definition of commercial or industrial 
feudalism. The modern barons, more powerful 
than their military prototypes, own our greatest 
highways, and levy tribute at will upon all our 
vast industries. And, as the old feudalism was 
finally controlled and subordinated only by the 
combined efforts of the kings and the people of 
the free cities and towns, so our modern feudalism 
can be subordinated to the public good only by 
the great body of the people, acting through their 
governments by wise and just laws. 

I shall not now enter upon the discussion of 
methods by which this great work of adjustment 
may be accompli slied. But I refuse to believe 
that tlie genius and energy which have developed 
these new and tremendous forces, will fail to 
make them, not the masters, but the faithful ser- 
vants of society. It will be a disgrace to our age 



436 CHIPS FROM THE ^^^^IT£ house. 

and to us, if wc do not discover some method by 
■which the public functions of these organizations 
may be brought into full subordination to the 
public, and that, too, without violence, and with- 
out unjust interference with the rights of private 
individuals. It will be unworthy of our age, and 
of us, if we make the discussion of this subject a 
mere warfare against men. For in these great 
industrial enterprises have been, and still are en- 
gaged, some of the noblest and worthiest men of 
our tune. It is the s^'stcm — its tendencies and 
its dangers — which society itself has produced, 
that we are now to confront. And these indus- 
tries must not be cripi:)led, but promoted. The 
evils complained of are mainly of our own mak- 
ing. States and communities have willingly and 
thoughtlessly conferred these great powers upon 
railwa3's ; and they must seek to rectify their own 
errors without injury to the industries they have 
encouraged. 

It depends upon the wisdom, the culture, the 
self-control of our people and their representa- 
tives, to determine how wisely and how avcII this 
question shall be settled. But that it will be 
solved, and solved in the interest of liberty and 
justice, I do not doubt. And its solution will 
open the way to a solution of a whole chapter of 
similar questions that relate to the conflict between 
capital and labor. 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 437 

fFrom a Speech in the House of Representatives, June. 

1874.] 

The division 1)etAveen church and state ouoht to 
be so absolute that no church property anywhere, 
in any State or in the nation, should be exempt 
fi'om taxation ; for, if you exempt the property of 
any church organization, to that extent 30U impose 
a church-tax upon the whole community. 

Occasion may be the l)ugle-call that summons 
an army to battle, but the blast of a bugle can 
never make soldiers or win victories. 

Things don't turn up in this world until some- 
body turns them up. 

We cannot study nature profoundly without 
bringing ourselves into communion with the spirit 
of art which pervades and fills the universe. 

If there be one thing upon this earth that man- 
kind love and admire better than another, it is a 
brave man ; it is a man who dares to look the 
devil in the face, and tell him he is a devil. 

It is one of the precious mysteries of sorrow, 
that it finds solace in unselfish thought. 

True art is but the anti-type of nature, the em- 
bodiment of discovered beaut}' in utility. 



438 CHIPS FE03I THE ■^^^^TE house." 

In order to Lave any success in life, or any 
worthy success, you must resolve to carry into 
your work a fulness of knowledge ; not merely a 
sufficiency, but more than a sufficiency. 

Be fit for more than the thing you are now doing. 

If you are not too large for the place, you are 
too small for it. 

What the arts are to the world of matter, lit- 
erature is to the world of mind. 

Many books we can read in a railroad car, and 
feel a harmony between the rushing of the train 
and the haste of the author ; but to enjoy stand- 
ard works, we need the quiet of a winter evening ; 
an easy-chair before a cheerful fire, and all the 
equanimity of spirits we can command. 

He who would understand the real spirit of 
^iterature should not select authors of any one 
period alone, but rather go to the fountain-head, 
and trace the little rill as it courses along down 
the ages, broadening and deepening into the great 
ocean of thought Avhich the men of the present 
are exploring. 

The true literary man is no mere gleaner, fol- 
lowing in the rear and gathering up the fragments 
of the world's thought ; but he goes down deep 



JAIMES A. GARFIELD. 439 

into the heart of humanity, watches its throbbings ; 
analyzes the forces at "s\rork there ; traces out, with 
j)rophetic foresight, their tendencies, and thus, 
standing out far beyond his age, holds up the pic- 
ture of what it is and is to be. 

[Letter to A. B. Hinsdale, 1876.] 

I have followed this rule [as a lawyer] : when- 
ever I have had a case, I have undertaken to work 
out thoroughly the principles involved in it ; not 
for the case alone, l)ut for the sake of comprehend- 
ing thoroughly that branch of the law. 

[From " Life and Character of Almoda A. Booth,'" June 22, 
1876.] 

We can study no life intelligently except in its 
relation to causes and results. Character is the 
chief element ; for it is both a result and a cause 
— the result of all the elements and forces that 
combined to form it, and the chief cause of all 
that is accomplished by its possessor 

Every character is the joint product of nature 
and nurture. By the first, we mean those inborn 
qualities of body and mind inherited from parents, 
or rather from a Ions; line of ancestors. AVho shall 
estimate the effect of those latent forces, enfolded 
in the spirit of a new-born child, which may date 
back centuries, and find their origin in the unwrit- 
ten history of remote ancestors — forces, the germs 



440 ciiirs n:o3i Tim aviiite house. 

of which, enveloped in the solemn mystery of life, 
have been transmitted silently, from generation to 
generation, and never perish? All-cherishing Na- 
ture, provident and iinforgetting, gathers up all 
these fragments th[:t nothing may be lost, but that 
all may reappear in new combinations. Each new 
life is thus the " heir of all the ages," the possessor 
of qualities Avhich ordy the events of life can un- 
fold. 

By the second element, nurture, culture, we 
designate all those influences wliich act upon this 
initial force of character, to retard or streui^thcn 
its development. There has been much discussion 
to determine "which of these elements plays the 
more important part in the formation of character. 
The truth doubtless is, that sometimes the one and 
sometimes the other is the greater force ; but so 
far as life and character are dependent upon volun- 
tary action, the second is no doubt the element of 
chief importance, 

[From the Same] 

Not enough attention has been paid to the marked 
difference between the situation and possibilities 
of a life developed here in the West, during the 
first half of the present centur}', and those of a 
life nurtured and cultivated in an old and settled 
community like that of New England. 

Consider, for example, the measureless diifer- 



JAMES A. GAllFIELD. 441 

ence between the early surroundings of John 
Quincy Adams and Abraham Lincohi. Both 
were possessed of great natural endowments 
Adams was blessed with parents whose native 
force of character, and vvhose vigorous and thor- 
ough culture h:ive never been surpassed by any 
married pair in America. Young Adams was 
thoroughly taught by his mother until he had com- 
pleted his tenth year ; and then, accompanying his 
father to France, he spent two years in a training- 
school at Paris and three years in the University at 
Leyden. After two years of diplomatic service, 
under the skilful guidance of his father's hand, he 
returned to America, and devoted three years to 
study at Harvard, where he was graduated at the 
age of twenty-one ; and, three years later, was 
graduated in the law, under the foremost jurist of 
his time. "With such parentage and such oppor- 
tunities, vrho can wonder that b}- the time he 
reached the meridian of his life, he was a man of 
immense erudition, and had honored every great 
office in the gift of his country ? 

How startling the contrast, in e^ery particular, 
between his carl}^ life and that of Abraham Lin- 
coln. . . . Born to an inheritance of the extrem- 
est poverty, wholly unaided by his parents, sur- 
rounded by the rude forces of the wilderness, only 
one year at any school, never for a day master of 
his own time until he reached his majority, forcing 



442 CHIPS FROM THE WHITE HOUSE. 

his way to the profession of the law by the hard- 
est and roughest road, and beginning its practice 
at twenty-eight years of age, yet, by the force of 
unconquerable will and persistent hard work, he 
attained a foremost place in his professi.on. 

" And, moving np from high to higher, 
Became, on fortune's crowning slope, 
The pillar of a peojile's hope. 
The centre of a world's desire." 

[From the Same.] 
It is one of the precious mysteries of sorrow, 
that it finds solace in unselfish work. 

A pound of pluck is worth a ton of luck. Let 
not poverty stand as an obstacle in your way. 

Here is the volume of our laws. INIore sacred 
than the twelve tallies of Rome, this rock of the 
law rises in monumental grandeur alike above the 
people and the President, above the courts, above 
Congress, commanding everywhere reverence and 
obedience to its supreme authority. 

That man makes a vital mistake who judges 
truth in relation to financial affairs from the chang- 
ing phases of public opinion. He might as well 
stand on (he shore of the Bay of Fundy, iiixd from 
the ebb twd flow of a single tide attempt to deter- 
mine the general level of the sea, as to stand upon 
this floor, and from the current of public opinion 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 413 

on any one debate, judge of the general level cf 
the public mind. It is only 'ivhen long spaces 
alon<2: the shore of the sea are taken into account 
that the grand level is found from ^vhicli the 
heights and depths are measured. And it is only 
when long spaces of time are considered, that we 
find at last that level of public opinion Avhich v.e 
call the general judgment of mankind. 

Bad faith on the part of an individual, a citv, or 
even a State, is a small evil in comparison vvith 
the calamities which follow bad faith on the piirt 
of a sovereimi government. 

In the complex and delicately adjusted relations 
of modern society, confidence in promises lawfully 
made is the life-blood of trade and commerce. It 
is the vital air Labor breathes. It is the light 
which shines on the pathway of prosperity. 

An act of bad faith on the part of a State or 
municipal corporation, like poison in the blood, 
will transmit its curse to succeeding generations. 

AVe are accustomed to hear it said that the great 
powers of government in this country are divided 
into two classes ; National powers and State 
powers. That is an incomplete classification. 
Our fathers carefully divided all governmental 
powers into three classes ; one they gave to the 



444 CHIPS FROM THE ^^^IITE HOUSE. 

States, another to the Nation ; but the third groat 
class, eomprisino; the most precious of all powers, 
they refused to confer on the State or Nation, but 
reserved to themselves. This third class of 
powers has been almost uniformly overlooked bj' 
men who have written and discussed the American 
system. 

Congress must always be the exponent of the 
political character and culture of the people, and 
if the next centennial does not find us a great Na- 
tion with a great and worthy Congress, it will be 
because those who represent the enterprise, the 
culture, and the morality of the Nation do not aid 
in controlling the political forces which are em- 
joloyed to select the men who shall occupy the 
great places of trust and power. 

There is scarcely a conceivable form of corrup- 
tion or public wrong that does not at last present 
itself at the cashier's desk and demand money. 
The Legislature therefore, that stands at the cash- 
ier's desk and watches Avith its Argus eyes the de- 
mands for payment over the counter is most cer- 
tain to see all the forms of public rascality. 

A steady and constant Revenue drawn from 
sources that represent the prosperity of the nation, 
— a Reveime that grows Avith the growth of na- 
tional wealth, and is so adjust-ed to the expendi- 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 445 

tures, that a constant and considerable surplus is 
annually left in the Treasury above all the neces- 
sary current demands, a surplus that keeps the 
Treasury strong, that holds it above the fear of 
sudden panic, that makes it impregnable against 
all private combinations, that makes it a terror to 
all stock-jol)bing and gold-gambling, — this is fi- 
nancial health. 

[From the "Atlantic Monthly," July, 1877. j 

The .most alarming feature of our situation is 
the fact, that so many citizens of high character 
and solid judgment pay but little attention to the 
sources of political power, to the selection of those 
■who shall make their laws. . . . It is precisely 
this neglect of the first steps in our political pro- 
cesses that has made possible the worst evils of 
our system. Corrupt and mcompetent presidents, 
judges, and legislators can l)e removed, but when 
the fountains of political power are corrupted, 
when voters themselves become venal, and elections 
fraudulent, there is no remedy except by awaken- 
ing the public conscience, and bringing to bear 
upon the subject the power of pul)lic opinion and 
the penalties of the law. ... In a word, our 
national safetj' demands that the fountains of 
political power shall be made pure by intelligence, 
and kept pure by ^■igi lance ; that the best citizens 
shall take heed to the selection and election of the 



446 CHirs FROM the -white house. 

worLliiest and most intelligent among them to hold 
seats in the national legislature ; and that when the 
choice has been made, the continuance of their 
representative shall depend upon his faithfulness, 
his abilit}^ and his willingness to work. 

[Speech on the presentation to Congi-ess of Carjienter's 
painting of President Lincoln and his Cabinet, at the 
time of his first reading of the Proclamation of Emanci- 
pation, January 16, 1878.] 

Let us pause to consider the actors in that scene. 
In force of character, in thoroughness and breadth 
of culture, in experience of public affairs, and in 
national reputation, the cabinet that sat around 
that council-board has had no superior, perhaps no 
equal in our history. Seward, the finished scholar, 
the consummate orator, the great leader of the 
senate, had come to crown 'his career with those 
achievements which placed him in the first rank 
of modern diplomatists. Chase, with a culture 
and a frame of massive grandeur, stood as the rock 
and pillar of the public credit, the noble embodi- 
ment of the public faith. Stanton was there, a 
very Titan of strength, the great organizer of vic- 
tory. Eminent lawyers, men of business, leaders 
of states, and leaders of men, completed the 
group. 

But the man who presided over that council, 
who inspired and guided its determinations, was 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 447 

a character so unique that he stood alone, without 
a model in history, or a parallel among men. Bom 
on this day, sixty-nine years ago, to an inheritance 
of extremest poverty, surrounded by the rude 
forces of the wilderness ; wholly unaided by par- 
ents ; only one year in any school ; never, for 
a day, master of his own time until he reached 
his majority ; making his way to the profession of 
the law hy the hardest and roughest road ; yet, by 
force of unconquerable will and persistent, pa- 
tient work, he attained a foremost place in his pro- 
fession, 

" And, moving' up from liigh to higher. 

Became, on fortime's crowning slope. 

The pillar of a people's hope, 
The centre of a -world's desire." 

At first it was the prevailing belief that he 
would be only the nominal head of his adminis- 
tration ; that its policy would be directed by the 
eminent statesmen he had called to his council. 
How erroneous this opinion was, may be seen 
from a single incident. Among the earliest, most 
difficult, and most delicate duties of his adminis- 
tration, was the adjustment of our relations with 
Great Britain. Serious complications, even hostil- 
ities, were apprehended. On the 21st day of 
May, 18G1, the Secretary of State presented to 
the President his drauglit of a letter of instruc- 
tions to ^Minister Adams, in which the position of 



448 CHIPS FEo:.i the white house. 

the United States and the attitude of Great Britain 
were set forth with the clearness and force which 
long experience and great ability had placed at the 
command of the Secretary, 

Upon almost every page of that original draught 
are erasures, additions, and marginal notes in the 
handwriting of Abraham Lincoln, which exhibit a 
sagacity, a breadth of wisdom, and a comi)rehen- 
sion of the whole subject, impossible to be found 
except in a man of the very first order. And 
these modiiications of a great state-paper were 
made by a man who, but three months before, had 
entered, for the first time, the wide theatre of 
executive action. 

Gifted with an insight and a foresight which the 
ancients would have called divination, he saw, in 
the midst of darkness and obscurity, the logic of 
events, and forecast the result. From the first, in 
bis own quaint, original way, vvithout ostentation 
or offence to his associates, he was pilot and con]- 
mander of his administration. He was one of the 
few great rulers whose wisdom increased with liis 
power, and whose spirit grew gentler and tenderer 
as his triumphs were multiplied. 

[From the "Xorlh American Review," ]\I:n--,Tune, 1878.] 

The Secretary of War is a civil officer ; one of 
the constitutional advisers of the President — his 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 449 

civil executive to direct and control military affairs, 
and conduct army administration for tlie President. 
. . . This was clearly understood in our early bis- 
torts and it is worthy of note that om* most emi- 
nent Secretaries of War have been ciA'ibans, Avbo 
brought to the duties of the office great political 
and legal experience, and other high qualities of 
statesmanship. 

Perhaps it was wise in Wasliington to choose as 
the first Secretary of War, a distinguished soldier, 
for the purpose of creating and setting in order 
the military establishment ; but it may vrell be 
doubted if any subsequent appointment of a soldier 
to that position has l)ecn wise. In fact, most of 
the misadjustments between the Secretary of War 
and the army, so much complained of in recent 
3'ears, originated with a Secretary of War who 
had been a soldier, and could hardly refrain from 
usurping the functions of command. . . . 

No very serious conflict of jurisdiction and 
command occurred until Jefterson Davis became 
Secretary of War. His early training as a soldier, 
his spirit of self-relianccv and habits of imperious 
command, soon brought him into collision with 
General Scott, and were the occasion of a corre- 
spondence, perhaps the most acrimonious CAei 
carried on by any prominent public man of our 
country. 

29 



450 CHIPS FROM THE WHITE HOUSE. 



[From a Speech at Faneuil IIa>l, Boston, September 11 

1878.] 

The Republican party of this country has said, 
and it says to-day, that, forgetting all the animosi- 
ties of the war, forgetting all the fierceness and 
the passion of it, it reaches out both its hands to 
the gallant men who fought us, and offers all fel- 
lowship, all comradeship, all feelings of brother- 
hood, on this sole condition, and on that condition 
they will insist forever : That in the war for the 
Union we were right, forever right, and that in 
the war against the Union they were wrong, for- 
ever wrong. We never made terms, we never 
will make terms, with the man who denies the 
everlasting risrhtfulness of our cause. That would 
be treason to the dead and injustice to the living ; 
and on that basis alone our pacification is com- 
plete. We ask that it be realized, and we shall 
consider it fully realized when it is just as safe 
and just as honorable for a good citizen of South 
Carolina to be a Republican there as it is for 
a good citizen of ^Massachusetts to be a Democrat 
here. 

[ From an Address at Hiram College.] 

Our great dangers are not from without. We 
do not hve by the consent of any other nation. 
We must look witliin to find elements of danger. 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 451 

[From a Speech on the Ninth Census.] 
Statesmanship consists rather in removing causes 
than in punishing, or evading results. 

[From a Speech, December 10, 1878.] 
The man who wants to serve his country must 
put liimsclf in the line of its leading thought, and 
that is the restoration of business, trade, com- 
merce, industry, sound political economy, hard 
money, and the payment of all obhgations ; and 
the man who can add anything in the direction of 
accomplishing any of these purposes is a public 
benefactor. 

The scientific spirit has cast out the Demons and 
presented us with Nature, clothed in her right mind 
and livino- under the reim of law. It has oiven 
us for the sorceries of the alchemist, the beautiful 
laws of chemistry ; for the dreams of the astrol- 
oger, the sublime truths of astronomy ; for the 
wild visions of cosmogony, the monumental rec- 
ords of geology ; for the anarchy of diabolism, 
the laws of God. 

"\Ve no longer attribute the untimely death of 
infants to the sin of Adam, but to bad nursing and 
ignorance. 

Truth is so related and correlated that no depart- 
ment of her realm is wholly isolated. 



452 CHIPS FROM THE WHITE HOUSE. 

Truth is the food of the human spirit, which 
could not gTow in its majestic proportions without 
clearer and more truthful vdews of God and his 
universe. 

Ideas are the great warriors of the world, and a 
war that has no ideas behind it is simply brutality. 

I love to ]3elieve that no heroic sacrifice is ever 
lost, that the characters of men are moulded and 
inspired 1)y what their fathers have done ; that, 
treasured up in American souls are all the uncon- 
scious influences of the great deeds of the Anglo- 
Saxon race, from Agincourt to Bunker Hill. 

Eternity alone will reveal to the human race its 
debt of gratitude to the peerless and immortal name 
of Washington. 

I douljt if any man equalled Samuel Adams in 
formulating and uttering the fierce, clear, and inex- 
orable logic of the Revolution. 

The last eight decades have witnessed an Empire 
spring up in the full panoply of lusty life, from a 
trackless wilderness. 

In their struggle with the forces of nature, the 
ability to labor was the richest patrimony of the 
colonist. 

The granite hills are not so changeless and abid- 
ing as the restless sea. 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 453 

To him a battle was neither an earthquake, nor 
a volcano, nor a chaos of brave men and frantic 
horses ii^^olved in vast explosions of gunpowder. 
It was rather a calm rational combination of force 
ao-ainst force. — Oration on Geo. II. Thomas. 

After the fire and lilood of the battle-fields have 
disappeared, nowhere does war show its destroy- 
ing power so certainly and so relentlessly as in the 
columns which represent the taxes and expendi- 
tures of the nation. 

[From a Sijeech, June 2, 1879.] 

The Eesumption of Specie Payments closes the 
most memorable epoch in our history since the 
birth of the Union. Eighteen hundred and sixty- 
one and eighteen hundred and seventy-nine are the 
opposite shores of that turbulent sea whose storms 
so seriously threatened with shipwreck the ];ros- 
perity, the honor, and the life of the nation. Ikit 
the horrors and dangers of the middle-passag'e 
have at last been mastered ; and out of the night 
and tempest the Repul)lic has landed on the shore 
of this new year, bringing with it union and lib- 
erty, honor and peace. 

Our country needs not only a national but un 
international currency. 



454 CHIPS FROM THE %An[nTE HOUSE. 

Let us have equality of dollars before the law, 
so that the trinity of our political creed shall be — 
equal States, equal men, and equal dollars through- 
out the Union. 



[Address, at the Memorial Meeting, in the House of Repre- 
sentatives, January 16, 1879.] 

No page of human history is so instructive and 
significant as the record of those early influences 
which develop the character and chrect the lives of 
eminent men. To every man of great original 
power, there comes in early youth, a moment of 
sudden discovery — of self recognition — when his 
own nature is revealed to himself, when he catches, 
for the first time, a strain of that immortal song to 
which his own spirit answers, and which becomes 
thenceforth and forever the inspiration of his life — 

" Like noble music unto noble words." 

More than a hundred years ago, in Strasbourg, 
on the Ehine, in obedience to the commands of his 
father, a German lad was reluctantly studying the 
mysteries of the civil law, but feeding his spirit as 
best he could upon the formal and artificial poetry 
of his native land, when a page of "\rilliam Shakes- 
peare met his eye, and changed the whole current 
of his life. Abandoning the law, he created and 
crooned with an immortal name the grandest epoch 
of German literature. 



JAMES A. GAEFIELD. 455 

Recording his own experience, lie says : 

At the first touch of Shakespeare's genius, I made the 
glad confession that something inspiring hovered above me. 
. . . The first page of his tliat I read made me his for life; 
and when I had finished a single play, I stood like one born 
blind, on whom a miraculous hand bestows sight in a mo- 
ment. I saw, I felt, in the most vivid manner that my ex- 
istence was infinitely expanded. 

This Old AVorld experience of Goethe's was 
strildngly reproduced, though under different con- 
ditions and with different results, in the early life 
of Joseph Henry. You have just heard the inci- 
dent worthily recounted ; but let us linger over it 
a moment. An orphan boy of sixteen, of tough 
Scotch fibre, laboring for his own support at the 
handicraft of the jeweler, unconscious of his great 
power, delighted with romance and the drama, 
dreaming of a possible career on the stage, his 
attention was suddenly arrested by a single page 
of an humble book of science which chanced to 
fall into his hands. It was not the flash of a poetic 
vision which aroused him. It was the voice of 
great Nature calling her child. With quick recog- 
nition and glad reverence his spirit responded; 
and from that moment to the end of his long 
and honored life, Joseph Henry was the devoted 
student of science, the faithful interpreter of 
nature. 

To those who knew his gentle spirit, it is i ot 



456 CHIPS FHO.AI TIIE WHITE HOUSE". 

surprising that ever afterward he kept the little 
volume near him, and cherished it as the source of 
his fii'st inspiration. In the maturity of his fame 
he recorded on its fly-leaf his gratitude. Note his 
words : 

This book, under Providence, has exerted a remarkable 
influence on my life. ... It opened to me a new world of 
thought and enjoyment, invested things before almost unno- 
ticed with the highest interest, fixed my mind on the study 
of nature, and caused me to resolve, at the time of reading 
it, that I would devote my life to the acquisition of 
knowledge. 

We have heard from his venerable associates 
with what resolute perseverance he trained his 
mind and marshalled his powers for the higher 
realms of science. He was the first American after 
FrankUn who made a scries of successful original 
experiments in electricity and magnetism. He 
entered the mighty line of Volta, Galvani, Oersted, 
Davy, and Ampere, the great exploring philoso- 
phers of the world, and added to their work a final 
great discovery, which made the electro-magnetic 
telegraph possible. j 

It remained only for the inventor to construct! 
an instrument and an alphabet. Professor Henry 
refused to reap any pecuniary rewards from liis 
great discover}', but gave freely to manldnd what 
nature and science had given to him. The vener- 
able gentleman of almost eighty years, who has 



JA3IES A. GATJFIELD. 457 

just addressed us so eloquently, has portrayed 
the difficulties which beset the government in its 
attempt to determine how it should wisely and 
worthil}^ execute the trust of Smilhson. It was a 
perilous moment for the credit of America when 
that bequest was made. In his large catholicity 
of mind, Smithson did not trammel the bequest with 
conditions. In nine Vv'ords he set forth its ol^jcct 
— "-for the increase and diffusion of knowledc»:e 
among men." He asked and believed that America 
would interpret his wish aright, and with the Min- 
eral wisdom of science 

For ten years Congress wrestled with those nine 
words of Smithson and could not liandle them. 
Some political philosophers of that period held 
that we had no constitutional authority to accept 
the gift at all [laughter] and proposed to send it 
back to England. Every conceivable proposition 
was made. The colleges clutched at it ; the 
libraries wanted it ; the publication societies de- 
sired to scatter it. The fortunate settlement of 
the question was this : that, after ten 3'ears of 
wran2:lin2:, Congress was wise enouiyh to acknowl- 
edge its own ignorance, and authorized a body of 
men to find some one who knew how to settle it. 
[Applause.] And these men were wise enough 
to choose your great comrade to midertako the 
task. Sacrificing his brilliant prospects as a dis- 
coverer, he undertook the difficult work. lie 



458 CHIPS FROM THE WHITE HOUSE. 

drafted a paper, in which he offered an interpre- 
tation of the will of Smithson, mapped out a plan 
which would meet the demands of science, and 
submitted it to the suffrage of the repul)lic of 
scientific scholars. After due deliberation it re- 
ceived the almost unanimous approval of the 
scientific world. With faith and sturdy persever- 
ance, he adhered to the plan and steadily resisted 
all attempts to overthrow it. 

In the thirty-two years during which he admin- 
istered the great trust, he never sw^erved from his 
first purpose ; and he succeeded at last in realizing 
the ideas with which he started. 

The germ of our political institutions, the pri- 
mary cell from which they were evolved, was in the 
'New England to^vn, and the vital force, the inform- 
ing soul of the town, was the Town INIeeting, 
Tvhich for all local concerns was king, lords, and 
commons in all. 

It is as much the duty of all good men to 
protect and defend the reputation of worthy publia 
servants as to detect public rascals. 

Political parties, like poets, are born, not made. 
No act of political mechanics, however wise, caa 
manufacture to order and make a platform, and 
put a party on it which will live and flourish. 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 459 

[On the Relation of the Government to Science, February 
11, 1879.] 

What ought to be the relation of the National 
Government to science ? What, if anything, ought 
we to do in the Avay of promoting science? For 
example, if we have the j)ower, would it be wise 
for Congress to appropriate money out of the 
Treasury, to employ naturalists to find out all thai 
is to be known of our American birds? Orni- 
thology is a delightful and useful study ; but would 
it be wise for Congress to make an appropriation 
for the advancement of that science? In my 
judgment, manifestly not. We would thereby 
make one favored class of men the rivals of all the 
ornithologists who, in their private way, following 
the bent of their genius, may be working out the 
results of science in that field. I have no doul:)t 
that an appropriation out of our Treasury for that 
purpose would be a positive injury to the advance- 
ment of science, just as an appropriation to estab- 
lish a church would work injury to religion. 

Generally, the desire of our scientific men is to 
be let alone to work in free competition with all 
the scientific men of the world ; to develop their 
own results, and get the credit of them each for 
himself; not to have the Government enter the lists 
as the rival of private enterprise. 

As a general principal, therefore, the United 



460 cmrs from the white house. 

States ought not to interfere in matters of science, 
but should leave its development to the free, vol- 
untary action of our great third estate, the people 
themselves. 

In this non-interference theory of the Go\ern- 
ment, I do not go to the extent of saying that we 
should do nothing for education — for primary 
education. That comes under another consider- 
ation — the necessity of the nation to protect 
itself, and the consideration that it is cheaper and 
wiser to give education than to build jails. But I 
am speaking now of the higher sciences. 

To the general principle I have stated, there are 
a few obvious exceptions which should be clearly 
understood when we legislate on the subject. In 
the first place, the Government should aid all sorts 
of scientific inquiry that are necessary to the in- 
telligent exercise of its own functions. 

For example, as we are authorized by the Con- 
stitution and compelled byaiecessity to build and 
maintain light-houses on our coast and establish 
fog-signals, Ave are bound to make all necessary 
scientific inquiries in reference to light and its 
laws, sound and its laws — to do whatever in the 
way of science is necessary to achieve the best 
results in lighting our coasts and warning our 
mariners of danger. So, Avhen we are building 
iron-clads for our navy or casting guns for our 
arm}', we ought to know all that is scientificallj 



JA3HES A. GARFIELD. 461 

possible to be known about the strength of ma- 
terials and the laws of mechanics Avhich apply tc 
such structures. In short, wherever in exercising 
any of the necessary functions of the Government 
scientific incj[uiry is needed, let us make it, to the 
fullest extent, and at the public expense. 

There is another exception to the general rule 
of leaving science to the voluntary action of the 
people. Wherever any great popular interest, 
affecting whole classes, possibly all classes of the 
community, imperatively need scientific investiga- 
tion, and private enterprise cannot accomplish it, 
we may wisely intervene and help where the Con- 
stitution gives us authority. For example, in 
discovering the origin of yellow-fever and the 
methods of preventing its ravages, the nation 
should do, for the good of all, Avdiat neither the 
States nor individuals can accomplish. I might 
perhaps include in a third exception those inquiries 
which, in consequei^pe of their great magnitude 
and cost, cannot be successfully made by private 
individuals. Outside these three classes of in- 
quiries, the Government ought to keep its hands 
off, and leave scientific exiDeriment and in(]uiry to 
the free competition of those bright, intelligent 
men wh^se genius leads them into the fields of 
research. 

And I suspect, when we read the report of our 
commissioner to the late Paris Exposition, which 



462 CHIPS FROM THE ■WHITE HOUSE. 

shows such astonishing results, so creditable to our 
country, so honorable to the genius of our people, 
it will be found, in any final analysis of causes, 
that the superiority of Americans in that great Ex- 
position resulted mainly from their superior free- 
dom, and the greater competition between mind 
and mind untrammelled by Government interfer- 
ence ; I believe it will be found wo are best 
serving the cause of religion and science, and all 
those great primary rights which wg did not dele- 
gate to the Congress or the States, but left the 
people free to enjoy and maintain them. 

[Speech on the National Election.] 

The irreat dano-er which threatens this countrv is, 
that our sovereign may be dethroned or destroyed 
by corruption. In any monarchy of the world, if 
the sovereign be slain or become lunatic, it is easy 
to put another in liis place, for the sovereign is a 
person. But our sovereign^ is the whole body of 
voters. If you kill, or corrupt, or render lunatic 
our sovereign, there is no successor, no regent to 
take his place. The source of our sovereign's 
supreme danger, the point Avhere his life is vul- 
nerable, is at the ballot-box, where his will is 
declared ; and if we cannot stand b}'^ that cradle 
of our sovereign's heir-apparent and protect it to 
the uttermost ao^ainst all assassins and assailants , 
we have no government and no safety for the future. 



JAMES A. GAEFIELD. 463 



[Remarks, in the House of Representatives, February 11, 
1879, on tile Life and Cliaracter of Gustavo Sclileiclier.] 

We are accustomed to say, and we have heard 
to-night, that he [Gustave Schleicher] was born 
CD foreign soil. In one sense that is true ; and yet 
in a very proper historic sense he was born in our 
fatherland. One of the ablest of recent historians 
begins his opening volume with the declaration that 
England is not the fatherland of the Engligh-speak- 
ing people, but the ancient home, the real father- 
land of our race, is the ancient forests of Germany. 
The same thought was suggested by Montesquieu 
long ago, when he declared in his Spirit of Laws 
that the British constitution came out of the w^oods 
of Germany. 

To this day the Teutonic races maintain the 
same noble traits that Tacitus describes in his ad- 
mirable history of the manners and character of the 
Germans. We may t|ierefore say that the friend 
whose memory we honor to-night is one of the 
elder brethren of our race. He came to America 
direct from our fatherland, and not, like our OAvn 
fathers, by the way of England. 

We who were born and have passed all our hves 
in thii wide New ^Vorld can hardly appreciate the 
influences that surrounded his early Ufe. Born on 
the borders of that great forest of Germany, the 
Odenwald, filled as it is with the memories and 



4(^4 CllirS FKOM THE WHITE HOUSE. 

traditions of centuries, in which are mingled 
Scandinavian mytholog}', legends of the raiddle 
ages, romances of feudalism and chivahy , histories 
of barons and kings, and the struggles of a brave 
people for a better civihzation ; reared under the 
institutions of a strong, semi-despotic government ; 
devoting his early life to personal culture, enter- 
ing at an early age the University of Giessen, 
venerable with its two and a half centuries of ex- 
istence, vrith a library of four hundred thousand 
volumes at his hand, with a great museum of the 
curiosities and mysteries of nature to study, he fed 
his eager spirit upon the rich culture wliich that 
Old World could give him, and at twenty-four 
years of age, in company with a band of thirty- 
seven young students, like himself, cultivated, 
earnest, liberty-loving almost to the verge of com- 
munism — and who of us would not be communists 
in a despotism? — he came to this country, at- 
tracted by one of the most wild and romantic 
pictures of American history, the picture of Texas 
as it existed near forty years ago ; the country dis- 
covered hy La Salle at the end of his long and 
perilous voyage from Quebec to the northern 
lakes and from the lakes to the Gulf of ]Mexico ; 
the country possessed alternately by the Spanish, 
and the French and then by Mexico ; the country 
made memorable by such names as Blair, Houston, 
Albert Sidnej- Johnson, and Mirabeau Lamar, per- 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 4G5 

haps as adventurous and daring spirits as ever as- 
sembled on any spot of the earth ; a country that 
achieved its Treedom by heroism never surpassed, 
and which maintained its perilous independence for 
ten years in spite of border enemies and European 
mtrigues. 

It is said that a society was formed in Europe 
embracing in its membership men of high rank, 
even members of royal families, for the purpose of 
colonizing the new Eepublic of the Lone Star, and 
making it a dependency of Europe under their 
patronage ; but without sharing in their designs, 
some twenty thousand Germans found their way 
to the new Republic, and among these young 
Schleicher came. 

[From the " North American Review," March, 1879.] 

The ballot was given to the negro not so much 
to enable him to govern others as to prevent others 
from misofoverninEf him. Suifras^e is the sword 
and shield of our law, the best armament that 
liberty oilers to the citizen. 

[From the Same, June, 1879.] 

If our republic were blotted from the earth and 
fi'om the memory of mankind, and if no record of 
its history survived, except a copy of fiuv revenue, 
laws and our appropriation bills for a single year, 
the political philosopher would be able from these 



466 CHIPS FROM THE WHITE HOUSE. 

materials alone to reconstruct a large pail; of out 
history, and sketch with considerable accuracy the 
character and spirit of our institutions. 

[Speech in Congress, on the first anniversary of Mr. Lin- 
coln's death.] 

There are times in the history of men and 
nations when they stand so near the veil that sep- 
arates mortals and immortq,ls, time from eternity, 
and men from their God, that they can almost 
hear the breathings, and feel the pulsations of the 
heart of the Infinite. Throuo-h such a time has 
this nation passed. When two hundred and fifty 
thousand brave spirits passed from the field of 
honor through that thin veil to the presence 
of God, and when at last its parting folds ad- 
mitted the martyred President to the company of 
the dead heroes of the republic, the nation stood 
so near the veil that the wdiispers of God were 
heard by the children of men. Awe-stricken by 
his voice, the American people knelt in tearful 
reverence, and made a solemn covenant with God 
and each other that this nation should be saAcd 
from its enemies ; that all its glories should be 
restored, and on the ruins of slavery and treason 
the temples of freedom and justice should be built, 
and stand forever. It remains for us, consecrated 
by that great event, and under that covenant with 
God, to keep the faith, to go foi-ward in the great 



JAIVIES A. GARFIELD. 4G7 

Work until it shall be completed. Folloiving the 
lead of that great man, and obeying the high be- 
hests of God, let us remember 

"He has sounded forth his trumpet, that shall never call 
retreat ; 
He is sifting out the hearts of men before his judgment- 
seat; 
Be swift, my soul, to answer him; be jubilant, my feetj 
For God is marching on." 

Every great political party that has done this 
country any good has given to it some immortal 
ideas that have outlived all the members of that 
party. 

[Speech at Cleveland, Ohio. October 11, 1879. — Resump- 
tion of Specie Payments.] 

Now, what has been the trouble with us? 
18G0 was one shore of prosperity, and 1879 the 
other; and between these two high shores haa 
flowed the broad, deep, dark river of fire and 
blood and disaster throuo-h which this nation has 
been compelled to wade, and in whose depths it 
has been almost suffocated and drowned. In the 
darkness of that ten-ible passage we carried liberty 
m our arms ; we bore the Union on our shoulders ; 
and we bore in our hearts and on our arms what 
was even better than liberty and Union — we bore 
the faith, and honor, and public trust of this 
mighty Nation. And never, until we came up out 



) 



468 CHIPS FROM THE WHITE HOUSE. 

of the dark waters, out of the darkness of thd 
terrible current, and planted our feet upon tie 
solid shore of 1879 — never, I say, till then could 
this country look back to the other shore and f3el 
that its feet were on solid ground, and then look 
forward to the rising uplands of perpetual peace 
and prosperity that should know no diminution 
in the years to come. 

[Speech at Cleveland, October 11, 1879. — Aj^peal to 
Young JNIen.] 

Now, I tell you, young man, don't vote the 
liepublican ticket just because your father votes 
it. Don't vote the Democratic ticket, even if he 
does vote it. But let me give you this one word 
of advice, as you are about to pitch your tent in 
one of the great political camps. Your life is full 
and buoyant with hope now, and I beg }'ou, when 
you pitch your tent, pitch it among the living and 
not among the dead. If you are at all inclined to 
pitch it among the Democratic people and with 
that part}^, let me go with you for a moment while 
we survey the ground where I hope you will not 
shortly lie. It is a sad place, young man, for you 
to put your young life into. It is to me fa? more 
like a graveyard than like a camp for the living. 
Look at it ! It is billowed all over with the graven 
of dead issues, of buried opinions, of exploded 
theories, of disgraced doctrines. You cannot live 



I 



JA3IES A. GARFIELD. 409 

in comfort in such a place. Why, look here ! 
Here is a little double mound. I look down on it 
and I read, " Sacred to the memory of Squatter 
Sovereignty and the Dred Scott decision." A 
million and a half of Democrats voted for that, but 
it has been dead fifteen 3'ears — died by the hand 
of Abraham Lincoln, and here it lies. Young man, 
that is not the place for you. 

But look a little farther. Here is another mon- 
ument — a black tomb — and beside it, as our 
distinguished friend said, there towers to the sky 
a monument of four million pairs of human fetters 
taken from the arms of slaves, and 1 read on its 
little headstone this ; " Sacred to the memory of 
human slavery." For forty years of its infamous 
life the Democratic party taught that it was di- 
vine — God's institution. They defended it, they 
stood around it, they followed it to its grave as a 
mourner. But here it lies, dead by the hand of 
Abraham Lincoln. Dead hy the power of the 
Eepublican party. Dead hy the justice of Al- 
mighty God. Don't camp there, young man. 

But here is another — a little brimstone tomb 
— and I read across its yellow face in lurid, 
bloody lines these words : '' Sacred to the memory 
of State Sovereignty and Secession." Twelve mil- 
lions of Democrats mustered around it in arms to 
keep it alive ; but here it lies, sliot to death by 
tho million guns of the Republic. Here it lies, its 



470 CHIPS FROM THE WHITE HOUSE. 

shrine burnt to ashes under the blazing rafters of 
the burning Confederacy. It h dead ! I would 
not have you stay in there a minute, even in this 
balmy night air, to look at such a place. 

But just before I leave it I discover a new-made 
grave, a little mound — short. The grass has 
hardly sprouted over it, and all around it I see 
torn pieces of paper with the word "hat" on them, 
and I look down in curiosity, wondering what the 
little grave is, and I read on it : " Sacred to the 
memory of the Rag Baby nursed in the brain of 
all the fanaticism of the world, rocked by Thomas 
Ewing, George II. Pendleton, Samuel Cary^ and 
a few others throughout the land." But it died 
on the 1st of January, 1879, and the one hundred 
and forty millions of gold that God made, and not 
fiat power, lie upon its little carcass to keep it 
down forever. 

Oh, 3'oung- man, come out of that ! That is no 
place in which to put }'our 3'ouug life. Come out, 
and come over into this camp of libert}^ of order, 
of law, of justice, of freedom, of all that is glorious 
under these night stars. 

Is there any death here in our camp ? Yes ! 
yes ! Three hundred and fifty thousand soldiers, 
the noljlest band that ever trod the earth, chcd to 
make this camp a camp of glory and of Hberty 
forever. 

But there ai'e no dead issues here. There are 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 471 

no dead ideas here. Hang out our banner from 
under the blue sky this night until it shall sweep 
the green turf under your feet ! It hangs over our 
camp. Read away up under the stars the inscrip- 
tion we have written on it, lo ! these twenty-five 
years. 

Twenty-five years ago the Republican party was 
married to Liberty, and this is our silver wedding, 
fellow-citizens. A wortliily married pair love each 
other better on the day of their silver wedding 
than on the day of their first espousals ; and we 
are truer to Liberty to-day, and dearer to God 
than w^o w^ere when w^e spoke our first word of 
liberty. Read away up under the sky across our 
starry banner that first word we uttered tw^enty- 
five years ago ! What was it ? " Slavery shall 
never extend over another foot of the territories 
of the great West." Is that dead or alive? Alive, 
thank God, forevermore ! And truer to-night than 
it was the hour it was written ! Then, it was a 
hope, a promise, a purpose. To-night it is equal 
with the stars — immortal history and immortal 
truth. 

Come down the glorious steps of our banner. 
Every great record we have made we have vindi- 
cated w^ith our blood and with our truth. It 
sweeps the ground, and it touches the stars. Come 
there, young man, and put in your young life 
where all is living, and where nothing is dead but 



472 CHIPS fro:m the white house. 

the heroes that defended it ! I think these }'oung 
men will do that. 

[From a S^xjech, January 1-1, 1880.] 

I sjiy, moreoA-er, that the flowers that bloom 
over the a-arden-wall of party politics are the 
sweetest and most fragrant that bloom in the gai- 
dens of this world, and where we can fairly pluck 
them and enjoy their fragrance, it is manly and 
delig-htful to do so. 

[Letter of Acceijtance, Jul}' 10, 1880.] 

Next in importance to freedom and justice is 
popular education, ^^■ithout which neither justice 
nor freedom can be permanently maintained. Its 
interests are intrusted to the States, and to the 
voluntary action of the people. Whatever help 
the Xation can justly aftbrd should be generously 
given to aid the States in supporting common 
schools ; but it would l)e unjust to our people, and 
dangerous to our institutions, to apply any i)ortion 
of the revenues of the Xation or of the States to 
the support of sectarian schools. The separation 
of the Church and the State in everything relating 
to taxation should be al)solute. 

Our country cannot l)e independent unless its 
people, with theh* abundant natural resources, 
lX)ssess the requisite skill at any time to clothe, 



JA3IES A. GARFIELD. 473 

arm, and equip themselves for vrar, and in time of 
peace to produce all the necessary implements of 
labor. It Avas the manifest intention of the found- 
ers of the Government to provide for the common 
defence, not by standing armies alone, but by rais- 
ing among the people a greater army of artisans, 
whose intelligence and skill should powerfully con- 
tribute to the safety and glory of the nation. 

Over this vast horizon of interests, North and 
South, above all party prejudices and personal 
wrong-doing, above our battle hosts and our vic- 
torious cause, above all that we hoped for and won, 
or you hoped for and lost, is the grand onward 
movement of the Republic to perpetuate its glory, 
to save Liberty alive, to preserve exact and equal 
justice to all, to protect and foster all these price- 
less principles until they shall have crystalhzed 
into the form of enduring law and become in- 
wrought into the life and habits of our People. 

I look forward with joy and hope to the day 
when our bravo people, one in heart, one in their 
aspirations for freedom and peace, shall see that 
the darkness through which we have travelled 
was but a part of that stern but beneticent disci- 
pline by which the great Disposer of events has been 
leadinof us on to a hic-hcr and nobler national life. 

The hope of our National perpetuity rests upon 



474 CHIPS FROM THE WHITE HOUSE. 

that perfect individual Freedom which shall forever 
keep up the circuit of perpetual change. 

Whatever opinions we may now entertain of the 
Federalists as a part}', it is unquestionably true that 
we are indebted to them for the strong points of the 
Constitution and for the stable government they 
founded and strenothened clurins: the administra- 
tion of Washino-ton and Adams. 

While it is true that no party can stand upon its 
past record alone, yet it is also true that its past 
shows the spirit and character of the organization, 
and enables us to judge what it will probably do 
in the future. 

Parties have an organic life and spirit of their 
own — an individuality and character which out- 
live the men who compose them; and the spirit 
and traditions of a party should be considered in 
determininij their fitness for manao-ino- the affairs 
of the nation. 

It is a safe and wise rule to follow in all legisla- 
tion, that whatever the people can do without legis- 
lation will be better done than by the interventio i 
of the State and Nation. 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 475 



[From a Speech, at the unveiling of a Soldiers' Moniimentj 
Painesville, Ohio, July i, 1880.] 

I once entered a house in old Massachusetts, 
Avhere over its doors were two crossed swords. 
One was the sword carried by the grandfather of 
its owner on the field of Bunker Hill, and the 
other was the sword carried by the English grand- 
sire of the wife on the same field, and on the other 
side of the conflict. Under those crossed swords, 
in the restored harmony of domestic peace, lived 
a happy and contented and free family, under the 
light of our repubhcan liberties. I trust the time 
is not far distant when, under the crossed swords 
and the locked shields of Americans, north and 
south, our people shall sleep in })eace and rise in 
liberty, love, and harmony, under the union of 
our flag of the stars and stripes. 

[Speech to a Delegation of four hundred Young Men — 
First Voters — of Cleveland, Ohio, at Mentor, October 8, 
1880.] 

I have not so far left the coast of youth 

to travel inland but that I can very well remember 
the state of young manhood, from an experience 
in it of some years, and there is nothing to me in 
this world so inspiring as the possibilities that lie 
locked up in the head and breast of a young man. 
The hopes that lie before him, the great inspira- 



476 CHIPS FROM THE WailTE HOUSE. 

tions around him, the great aspirations above hira, 
all these things, with the untried pathway of life 
opening up its difficulties and dangers, inspire him 
to courage, and force, and work. 

[From a Speech in New York, August 6, 1880.] 

Ideas outlive men. Ideas outlive all 

things, and 3'ou who fought in the war for the 
Union fought for immortal ideas, and by their 
might you crowned our war with victory. But 
victory was worth nothing except for the fruits 
that were under it, in it, and above it. We meet 
to-night as veterans and comrades, to stand sacred 
guard around the truths for which we fought, and 
while we have life to meet and grasp the hands of 
a comrade, we will stand by the gi'eat truths of the 
war ; and, comrades, among the convictions of that 
war which have sunk deep in our hearts there are 
some that we (;an never forget. Think of the 
great elevating spirit of the war itself. We gath- 
ered the boys from all our farms, and shops, and 
stores, and schools, and homes, from all over the 
Republic, and they went forth unknown to fame, 
but returned enrolled on the roster of immortal 
heroes. They went in the spirit of those soldici's 
of Henry at Agincourt, of whom he said, " Who 
this day sheds his blood with me, to-day shall be 
my broth-er. Were he ne'er so vile, this day shall 
gentle his condition ; " and it di gentle tlie condi- 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 477 

tion and elevate the heart of every Avorlcing sol- 
dier who fought in it, and he shall be our brother 
for evermore ; and this thing we will remember ; 
we will remember our allies who fought Avith us. 
Soon after the orreat strusrale beijan we looked be- 
hind the army of white rebels and saw 4,000,000 
of black people condemned to toil as slaves for our 
enemies, and we found that the hearts of this 
4,000,000 were God-inspired with the spirit of 
freedom, and that they were our friends. We 
have seen white men betray the flag and fight to 
Idll the Union, but in all that long, dreary war we 
never saw a traitor m a black skin. Our prisoners, 
escaping from the stai'vation of prison, and fleeing 
to our lines by the light of the North-star, never 
feared to enter the black man's cabin and ask for 
bread. In all that period of suffering and danger 
no Union soldier was ever betrayed by a black man 
or woman, and now that we have made them free, 
so long as we live we will stand by these black 
citizens. We will stand by them until the sun of 
liberty, fixed in the firmament of our Constitution, 
shall shine with equal rays upon every man, black 
or white, throughout the Union. Now, fellow- 
citizens, fellow-soldiers, in this then; is all the 
beneficence of eternal justice, and by tliis we will 
stand forever. 



478 CHIPS FROM THE WHITE HODSE. 

[Remmks at Chatauqna, August 1, 1880.] 

I would rather be defeated than make capital 
out of my religion. 

[From an Address at the Anniversary of Hiram College, 
directly afcer the Chicago Convention, 1880.] 

Fellow-citizens, Neighboes, and Fijiends of 
"MAiiY YEARS : It always has given me pleasure to 
come back here and look upon these faces. It has 
always given me new courage and new friends. It 
has brought back a large share of that richness 
that belono"s to those thino:s out of which come the 
joys of life. While I have been sitting here this 
afternoon, watching j^our faces and listening to the 
very interesting address which has just been de- 
livered, it occurred to me that the best thing you 
have that all men envy — I mean all men who 
have reached the meridian of life — is, perhaps, 
the thing that you care for less, and that is your 
leisure, — the leisure you have to think ; the 
leisure you have to be let alone ; the leisure you 
have to throw the plummet with j^our hand, and 
sound their depths and Hnd out what is below ; 
the leisure you have to walk about the towers of 
yourselves, and find how strong they are, or how 
weak they are, and determine what needs building 
up, and determine how to shape them, that you 
may make the final being that you are to be. Oh, 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 479 

these hours of building ! If the superior beings 
of the universe would look down upon the world 
to find the most interesting object, it would l)e the 
unfinished, unformed character of 3'oung men, or 
of young women. These behind me have, proba- 
bly, in the main settled such cjuestions. Those 
who have jDassed into middle manhood and middle 
Avomanhood are about Avhat they shall always l)e, 
and there is little left of interest or curiosity as to 
our development. But to your young and yet 
uninformed natures no man knows the possibilities 
that lie treasured up in your hearts and intellects ; 
and while you are working up these possibihties 
with that splendid leisure, you are the most envied 
of all classes of men and women in the world. I 
congratulate you on your leisure. I commend you 
to keep it as your gold, as your wealth, as your 
means, out of which you can demand all the pos- 
sible treasures that God laid clown when He 
formed your nature, and unveiled and devel- 
oped the possibility of your future. This place is 
too full of memories for me to trust myself to speak 
upon, and I will not ; but I draw again to-day, 
as I have for a quarter of a century, evidences of 
strength and affection from the people who gather 
in this place, and I thank you for the permission 
to see you, and meet you, and greet you, as I 
have done to-day. 



480 CHIPS FROM .HE WHITE HOUSE. 



CHESTER A. ARTHUR. 

BORN 1S30. — GRADUATED AT UNION COLLEGE, 1S48.— PRINCI- 
PAL OF NORTH POWNAL ACADEMV, VT., Is51. — ADiMlTTED 
TO THE BAR, 18.VJ. — * RETAINED IN THE FAMOUS LEM.MUN 
SUIT, KS52.— ENGINEER-IN-CHIEF OF GOVERNOR MORGANS 
STAFF, ISGl.— QUARTERMASTER-GENERAL OF STATE OF 
NEW YORK, 18G1'. — COLLECTOR OF NEW YORIC PORT, lsV2. — 
VICE-PRESIDENT, l^sl. — PRESIDENT, IStd. 

[From Annn.-il Mcssa2;e, December, 1881.] 
Prominent umonof the matters which chiiilenge 
the attention of Coni^ress at its present session is 
the management of our Indian affairs. While 
tins question has been a cause of ti'oul)le and 
eml)arrassment from the infancy of the govern- 
ment, it IS but recently that any effort has been 
made for its solution, at once serious, determined, 
consistent, and promising success. 

* In 18J2, Jonathan and Juliet Lemmon of Virginia were in 
New York awaiting with eight slaves the sailing of a steamer 
for Texas. A writ of habeas corpus was obtained from Julge 
Paine to test the question whether the provi-ions of the Fugitive 
Slave Law were in force in that State. Judge Paine's decision 
was that they were not, and he ordered the Lemmon slaves to be 
liberated. The Virginia Legislature then au'horized their At- 
torney-General lo appeal. William M. Kvarls and Chester A. 
Arthur were employe 1 1 o represent the people, and won their case. 
It was taken up to^the Supreme Court, and again lost. A long 
step was thui talien toward the emancipation of the slaves. 



CHESTER A. ARTHUR. 481 

It has been easier to resort to convenient make- 
shifts for tiding over temporary difficulties than 
to grapple with the great permanent problem, 
and, accordingly, the easier course has almost 
invariably been pursued. 

It was natural, at a time when the national 
territory seemed almost illimitable, and contained 
many millions of acres far outside the bounds of 
civilized settlements, that a policy should have 
been initiated which more than aught else has 
been the fruitful source of our Indian complica- 
tions. 

I refer, of course, to the policy of dealing with 
the various Indian tribes as separate nationalities, 
of relegating them by treaty stipulations to the 
occupanc}' of inunense reservations in the ^^'est, 
and of encouraging them to live a savage life, 
undisturbed by any earnest and well directed ef- 
fort to brini>; them under the inlluence of civili- 
zation. 

The unsatisfactor}' results which have sprung 
from this policy are becoming api)arent to all. 

As the white settlements have crowded the 
borders of the reservations, the Indians, sonie- 
times contentedly and sometimes against their 
will, have l)een transferred to other hunting- 
grounds, from which they have again been dis- 
lodjjed whenever their new-found homes have 
been desired by the adventurous settlers. 



482 CHIPS FROM THE WHITE HOUSE. 

These removals, and the frontier collisions by 
which they have often been preceded, have led 
to frequent and disastrous conflicts between the 
races. 

It is profitless to discuss here which of them 
has been chiefly responsiljle for the disturbances, 
whose recital occupies so large a space upon the 
pages of our history. 

We have to deal with the appalling fact that 
though thousands of lives have been sacrificed, 
and hundreds of millions of dollars expended, in 
the attempt to solve the Indian problem, it has, 
until within the past few years, seemed scarcely 
nearer a solution than it was half a century ago. 
But the government has of late been cautiously 
but steadily feeling its way to the adoption of a 
policy which has already produced gratifying re- 
sults, and which, in my judgment, is likely, if 
Congress and the executive accord in its support, 
to relieve us ere long from the difficulties which 
have heretofore beset us. 

For the success of the efforts now making to 
introduce among the Indians the customs and 
pursuits of civilized life, and gradually to absorb 
them into the mass of our citizens, sharing their 
rights and holding to their responsibilities, there 
is imperative need for legislative action. 

My suggestions in that regard will be chiefly 
such as have been already called to the attention 



CHESTER A. ARTHUR. 483 

of Congress, and have received to some extent its 
consideration : — 

First, I recommend the passage of an act mak- 
ing the laws of the various States and Territories 
applicable to the Indian reservations within their 
borders, and extending the laws of the State of 
Arkansas to the portions of the Indian Territory 
not occupied by the five civilized tribes. 

The Indian should receive the protection of the 
law. He should be allowed to maintain in court 
his rights of person and property. He has re- 
peatedly begged for this privilege. Its exercise 
would be very valuable to him in his progress 
towards civilization. 

Second, of even greater importance is a meas- 
ure which has been frequently recommended by 
my predecessors in ofiice, and in furtherance of 
which several bills have been from time to time 
introduced in both Houses of Congress. The 
enactment of a general law permitting the allot- 
ment in severalty, to such Indians, at least, as 
desire it, of a reasonable quantity of land, secured 
to them by patent, and for their own })rotection 
made inalienable for twenty or twenty-five 3'^ears, 
is demanded for their present welfare and their 
permanent advancement. 

In return for such considerate action on the part 
of the government, there is reason to believe that 
the Indians in large numbers would be persuaded 



484 CHIPS FROM THE WHITE HOUSE. 

to sever their tribal relations, and to engaire at 
once in agricultural pursuits. Many of them real- 
ize the fact that their hunting days are over, and 
that it is now for their best interests to conform 
their manner of life to the new order of things. 
By no greater inducement than the assurance of 
permanent title to the soil can they be led to en- 
gage in the occupation of tilling it. 

The well attested reports of their increasing 
interest m husbandry justify the hope and belief 
that the enactmsnt of such a statute as I recom- 
mend would be at once attended with gratifying 
results. A resort to the allotment system would 
have a direct and powerful influence in dissolving 
the tribal bond, which is so prominent a feature 
of savage life, and which tends so strongly to 
perpetuate it. 

Third, I advise a liberal appropriation for the 
support of Indian schools, because of my confi- 
dent belief that such a course is consistent with 
the wisest economy. 

Even amono; the most uncultivated Indian tril)es 
there is reported to be a general and urgent de- 
sire on the part of the chiefs and older members 
for the education of their children. It is unfortu- 
nate, in view of this fact, that during the past year 
the means which have been at the command of the 
Interior Department for the purpose of Indian in- 
struction have proved to be utterly inadequate. 



CHESTER A. ARTHUR. 485 

The success of the schools which are in operation 

at Hampton, Carlisle, and Forest Grove, should 

not only encourage a more generous provision 

for the support of those institutions, but should 

prom})t the establishment of others of a similar 

character. 

They are doubtless much more potent for good 

than the day schools upon the reservations, as the 

pupils are altogether separated from the surround- 

ino^s of savafje life and brought into constant con- 
es o o 

tact with civilization. 

[From the same.] 

. . . The existing civil-service system of Great 
Britain ; — the success which has attended that sys- 
tem in the country of its birth is the strongest ar- 
gument which has been urged for its adoption here. 

The fact should not, however, be overlooked 
that there are certain features of the English 
system which have not generally been received 
with favor in this country, even among the fore- 
most advocates of civil-service reform. 

Among them are : — 

1. A tenure of office which is substantially a 
life-tenure. 

2. A limitation of the maximum age at which 
an applicant can enter the service, whereby all 
men in middle life or older are, with some excep- 
tions, rigidly excluded. 



486 CHIPS FROM THE \\TFIITE HOUSE. 

3. A retiring allowance upon going out of 
office. 

These three elements are as important factors 
of the problem as any of the others. To eliminate 
them from the English system would effect a 
most radical change in its theory and practice. 

The avowed purpose of that system is to induce 
the educated young men of the country to devote 
their lives to public employment, by an assurance 
that, having once entered upon it, they need never 
leave it, and that after voluntary retirement they 
shall be the recipients of an annual pension. That 
this svstem, as an entirety, has proved very suc- 
cessful in Great Britain, seems to be generally 
conceded, even by those who once opposed its 
adoption 

The present English system is a growth of 
years, and was not created by a single stroke of 
executive or legislative action. Its besrinninsfs 
are found in an order of council promulgated in 
1855, and it was after patient and cautious scru- 
tiny of its workings that, fifteen years later, it took 
its present shape 

There are very many characteristics which go 
to make a model civil servant. Prominent among 
them are probit}', industry, good sense, good 
habits, good temper, patience, order, courtesy, 
tact, self-reliance, manly deference to superior 
officers, and manly consideration for inferiors. 



CHESTER A. ARTHUR. 487 

The absence of these traits is not supplied by 
wide knowledge of books, or by promptitude in an- 
swering questions, or by any other quality likely 
to be brought to light by competitive examina- 
tions. 

[From Message, December, 1882.] 
About a year since, invitations were extended 
to the nations of this continent to send represen- 
tatives to a peace Congress to assemble at Wash- 
ington in November, 1882. The time of meeting 
was fixed at a period then remote, in the hope, as 
the invitation itself declared, that in the meantime 
the disturbances between the South American re- 
publics would be adjusted. As that expectation 
seemed unlikely to be realized, I asked in April 
last for an expression of opinion from the two 
houses of Congress as to the advisability of hold- 
ing the proposed convention at the time appointed. 
This action was prompted in part by doubts which 
mature reflection had suggested : whether the di- 
plomatic usage and traditions of the government 
did not make it fitting that the executive should 
consult the representatives of the people before 
pursuing a line of policy somewhat novel in its 
character, and far-reaching in its possible conse- 
quences. In view of the fact that no action was 
taken by Congress in the premises, and that no 
provision had been made for necessary expenses, 



488 CHIPS FROM THE WHITE HOUSE. 

I subsequently decided to postpone the convoca- 
tion, and so notified the several governments which 
had been invited to attend. 

I am unwilling to dismiss this subject without 
assuring you of my support of any measures the 
wisdom of Congress may devise for the promotion 
of peace on this continent and throughout the 
world, and I trust that the time is nigh when, 
with the universal assent of civilized peoples, all 
international differences shall be determined with- 
out resort to arms — by the benignant processes 
of arbitration. 

[From the same.} 
The condition of the forests of the country, and 
the wasteful manner in which their destruction is 
taking place, give cause for serious apprehension. 
Their action m protecting the earth's surface, in 
modifying the extremes of climate, and in regu- 
lating and sustaining the flow of springs and 
streams, is now well understood, and their im- 
portance in relation to the growth and prosperity 
of the c^ountry cannot l)e safely disregarded. They 
are fast disappearing before destructive fires and 
the legitimate recjuirements of our increasing po])- 
ulation, and their total extinction cannot be long 
delayed unless better methods than now prevail 
shall be adopted for their protection and cultiva- 
tion. The attention of Conorress is invited to the 



CHESTER A. ARTHUR. 489 

necessity cf udditional legislation to secure the 
preservation of the valuable forests still remaining 
on the i)ul)lic domain, especially in the extreme 
Western States and Territories, where the neces- 
sity for their preservation is greater than in less 
mountainous regions, and where the prevailing 
dryness of the climate renders their restoration, 
if they are once destroyed, well nigh impossible. 

[From Message vetoing the River and Harbor 
Appropriation Bill ] 

The extravagant expenditure of public money 
is an evil not to be measured by the value of that 
mouey to the peoj)le who are taxed for it. They 
sustain a greater injury m the demoralizing etfect 
produced upon those who are intrusted with offi- 
cial duty through all the ramifications of govern- 
ment. 



490 CHIPS FROM THE WHITE HOUSE. 



GEOYER CLEYELAOT). 



BORN, 1837.— TEACHER IN THE NEW YORK INSTITUTION FOR 
THE BLIND. 1853. -ADMITTED TO THE BAR, 1859. — ASSIST- 
ANT DISTRICT ATTORNEY OF ERIE COUNTY, NEW YORK, 
1863-66.— SHERIFF OF COUNTY, 1870-73. — MAYOR OF BUF- 
FALO, 1882.— GOVERNOR OF NEW YORK, 1883. — PRESIDENT, 
1885. 



[From Speech accepting the nomination of Mayor ] 
I BELIEVE much can be done to relieve our citi- 
zens from their present load of taxation, and that 
a more rigid scrutiny of all public expenditures 
will result in a great saving to the community. 
I also believe that some extravagance in our city 
government may be corrected without injury to 
the public service. There is, or there should be, 
no reason why the affairs of our city should not 
be managed with the same care and the same econ- 
omy as private interests. And when we consider 
that public officials are the trustees of the people 
and hold their places and exercise their powers 
for the benefit of the people, there should be no 
higher inducement to a faithful and honest dis- 
charge of public duty. 



GROVER CLEVELAND. 491 



[From inangnral address to the Common Council 
of Buffiilo, January 2, 1882.] 

We hold the money of the people in our hands, 

to be used for their purposes and to further their 

interests as members of the municipality ; and it 

is quite apparent that when any part of the funds 

which the taxpayers have thus entrusted us are 

diverted to other purposes, or when, by design or 

neglect, we allow a greater sum to be applied to 

any municipal purpose than is necessar}^, we have, 

to that extent, violated our duty. There surely 

is no diflerence in his duties and obligations, 

whether a person is entrusted with the money 

of one man or many. And yet it sometimes 

appears as though the office-holder assumes that 

a different rule of fidelity prevails between him 

and the taxpayer than that which should regulate 

his conduct when, as an individual, he holds the 

money of his neighbor. 

[Fi'om Speech before the Irish-Amorican citizens 
of Buffalo, April 9, 1882. j 

From the earliest civilization, to be a citizen 
has been to be a free man, endowed with certain 
privileges and advantages, and entitled to the full 
protection of the State. The defence and protec- 
tion of the personal rights of its citizens has 



492 CHIPS FROM THE WHITE HOUSE. 

always been the paramount and most important 
duty of a free, enlightened government. . 

And this protection adheres to us in all lands 
and places as an incident of citizenship. Let but 
the weight of a sacrilegious hand I)e put upon 
this sacred thing, and a great strong government 
springs to its feet to avenge the wrong. Thus it 
is that the native-born American citizen enjoys 
his birthrights. But when, in the westward 
march of ein})ire, this nation was founded and 
took root, we beckoned to the Old A^'orld, and 
invited hither its emigration, and provided a mode 
by which those who sought a home among us might 
become our fellow-citizens. They came by thou- 
sands and hundreds of thousands ; they came and 

Hewed the dark old woods away. 
And gave the virgin fields to day; 

they came with strong sinews and brawny arms to 
aid in the growth and progress of a new country ; 
they came, and upon our altars laid their fealty 
and submission ; they came to our temples of jus- 
tice, and under the solemnity of an oath renounced 
all allegiance to every other State, potentate, and 
sovereignty, and surrendered to us all the duty 
pertaining to such allegiance. We have acce])ted 
their fealty and invited them to surrender the pro- 
tection of their native land. 

And what should be given them in return? 



GROVER CLEVELAND. 493 

Manifestly, good faith and every dictate of honor 
demand that we give them the same liberty and 
protection here and elsewhere which we vouchsafe 
to our native-born citizens. And that this has 
been accorded to them is the crowmug glory of 
American institutions. 

[From an address at the laying of the corner-stone of the 
bailding of the Young Men's Christian Association of 
Buffalo, September 7, 1882.] 

We have been too much in the hal)it of reoarding 
institutions of this kind as entirely disconnected 
from any consideration of municipal growth or 
prosperity, and have too often considered splen- 
did structures, active trade, increasing commerce, 
and growing manufactures as the only things 
worthy of our care as public-spirited citizens. A 
moment's reflection reminds us that this is wrong. 
The citizen is a better business man if he is a 
Christian gentleman, and surely business is not 
the less prosperous and successful if conducted on 
Christian principles. 

[Tlie Common Council had passed a resolution involving a 
clear loss to Buffalo of over $100,000. In vetoing it 
Mayor Cleveland said thus.] 

. . . This is a time for plain speech, and my 
objection to the action of your honorable body 
now under consideration shall be plainly stated. 



494 CHIPS FROM THE WHITE HOUSE. 

I withhold my assent from the same, because I 
regard it as the culmination of a most barefaced, 
impudent, and shameless scheme to betray the 
interests of the people and to worse than squander 
the public money. 

I will not be misunderstood in this matter. 
There are those whose votes were given for this 
resolution whom I cannot and will not suspect of 
a wilful neglect of the interests they are sworn to 
protect ; but it has been fully demonstrated that 
there are mfluences, both in and about your hon- 
orable body, which it behooves every honest man 
to watch and avoid with greatest care. 

When cool judgment rules the hour, the people 
will, I hope and believe, have no reason to com- 
plam of the action of your honorable body. But 
clumsy appeals to prejudice or passion, insinua- 
tions, with a kind of low cheap cunning, as to the 
motives and purposes of others, and the mock 
heroism of brazen effrontery which openly de- 
clares that a wholesome public sentiment is to be 
set at naught, sometimes deceive and lead hon- 
est men to aid in the consummation of schemes 
which, if exposed, they would look upon with ab- 
horrence. 



GROVER CLEVELAND. 495 



[From letter of acceptance of nomination as Governor,] 
October 7, 1882.] 

Our citizens for the most part attach themselves 
to one or the other of the great political parties ; 
and under ordinary circumstances they support 
the nominees of the party to which they profess 
fealty. It is quite apparent that under such cir- 
cumstances the primary election or caucus should 
be surrounded by such safeguards as will secure 
absolutely free and uncontrolled action. Here the 
people themselves are supposed to speak ; here 
they put their own hands to the machinery of gov- 
ernment, and in this place should be found the 
manifestations of the popular will. When by 
fraud, intimidation, or any other questionalile 
practice, the voice of the people is here smothered, 
a direct blow is aimed at a most precious right, 
and one which the law should be swift to protect. 
If the primary election is uncontaminated and 
fairly conducted, those there chosen to represent 
the people will go forth with the impress of the 
"people's will upon them, and the benefits and pur- 
poses of a truly representative government will be 
attained. 

Public officers are the servants and agents of 
the people, to execute laws which the people have 
made, and within the limits of a constitution which 
they have established. Hence the interference of 



496 CHIPS FROM THE WHITE HOUSE. 

officials of any degree, and whether State or fed- 
eral, for the puri)osc of thwarting or controlling 
the popular wish, should not be tolerated. 

Subordinates in public place should be selected 
and retained for their efficienc}', and not because 
they may be used to accomplish partisan ends. 
The people have a right to demand, here as in 
cases of private employment, that their money be 
paid to those who will render the best service in 
return, and that the appointment to and tenure 
of such places should depend upon ability and 
merit. If the clerks and assistants in public de- 
partments were paid the same compensation and 
required to do the same amount of work as those 
employed in prudently conducted private estab- 
lishments, the anxiety to hold these public places 
would be much diminished, and, it seems to me, 
the cause of civil-service reform materially aided. 

The system of levying assessments for partisan 
purposes on those holdmg office or place cannot 
be too strongly condenmed. Through the thin 
disguise of voluntary contributions, this is seen to 
be naked extortion, reducing the compensation 
which should be honestly earned, and swelling a 
fund used to debauch the people and defeat the 
popular will 

Corporations are created by the law for certain 
defined puri)oses, and are restricted in their opera- 
tions by speciiic limitations. Acting within their 



GROVER CLEVELAND. 497 

legitimate sphere, they should be protected; but 
when by combiuatioii or by the exercise of unwar- 
anted power they oppress the people, the same 
authority which created should restrain them and 
protect the rights of the citizen 

... It is wilful blindness not to see that the 
people care but little for party obligations when 
they are invoked to countenance and sustain fraud- 
ulent and corrupt practices. And it is well for 
our country and for the purification of ix)litics that 
the people, at times fully roused to danger, re- 
mind their leaders that party methods should be 
something more than a means used to answer the 
purposes of those who proiit by political occupa- 
tion. 

The importance of wise statesmanship in the 
management of public affairs cannot, I think, be 
overestimated. I am convinced, however, that 
the perplexities and the mystery surrounding the 
administration of State Concerns grow, in a great 
measure, out of an attempt to serve partisan ends 
rather than the welfare of the citizen. 

[From letter to the Assembly, April 9, 1883] 
I believe m an open and sturdy partisanship, 
which secures the legitimate advantages of party 
supremacy ; but parties were made for the people, 
and I am unwilling, knowingly, to give my assent 
to measures purely partisim, which will sacrifice 
or endansrer their interests. 



498 CHIPS FROM THE WHITE HOUSE. 

[From address to the pupils of the Albany High School.] 

The theory of the State in furnishing more 
and better schools for the children is that it 
tends to fit them to better perform their duties 
as citizens, and that an educated man or woman 
is apt to be more useful as a member of the com- 
munity. 

This leads to the thought that those who avail 
themselves of the means thus tendered them are 
in duty bound to make such use of their advan- 
tages as that the State shall receive in return the 
educated and intelligent citizens and members of 
the community which it has the right to expect 
from its schools. You, who will soon be the men 
of the day, should consider that you have as- 
sumed an obligation to fit yourselves by the edu- 
cation which you may, if you will, receive in this 
school, for the proper performance of any duty of 
citizenship, and to fill any public station to which 
you may be called. And it seems to me to be 
none the less important that those who are to be 
the wives and mothers should be educated, re- 
fined, and intelligent. To tell the truth, I should 
be afraid to trust the men, educated though they 
should be, if they were not surrounded by pure 
and true womanhood. Thus it is that you all, 
now and here, owe a duty to the State which can 
only by answered by diligent study and the great- 



. GROVER CLEVELAND. 499 

est possible improvement. It is too often the case 
that in all walks and places the disposition is to 
render the least possible return to the State for the 
favors which she bestows. 

[The Germans of Buffalo erected in 1883 a large music hall. 
At its dedication Governor Cleveland was asked to ad- 
dress the Sangerfest. From his speech.] 

At this moment the reflection is uppermost in 
my mind that we owe much to the German ele- 
ment among our people. . . . They have brought 
to us their music and their song, which have done 
much to elevate, refine, and improve, and to de- 
monstrate that nature's lansfuao-e is as sweet as 
when the morning stars sang together. 

I am inclined to think that a music-loving peo- 
ple are not apt to be a bad people ; and it may 
well be hoped that occasions like this will tend to 
make the love and cultivation of music more uni- 
versal in our land. 

[From speech at Oswegatchie Fair.] 
Broad fields, well tilled, not only secure com- 
fort and an income to the farmer, ])ut build up the 
commerce of the State, and easily supply the wants 
of the population. This is the magic wand whose 
touch creates wealth and a great State. So all of 
us who work are, in our several ways, engaged in 



500 



CHIPS FROM THE WHITE HOUSE. 



building to a higher reach and nobler proportions 
the fabric of a proud commonwealth. Those who 
make and execute the laAvs join with those who 
toil from day to day with their hands, in their sev- 
eral occupations, all alike engaged in building up 
and protecting the State. 



INDEX 



I :n^ D E X. 



Adams, John, 45, 66-68, 82, 85, 87, 124, 169, 189, 190. 

Adams, John Quincy, 51, 133, 143, 144, 441. 

Adams, Samuel, 52, 80, 110. 

Agassiz, Louis, 430. 

Alaska, 415. 

Allied Powers, The, 130. 

Amendment, The Fourteenth, 422. 

Amendments to the Constitution, 367-370. 

America and England, 318, 337. 

Arbitration, International, 237, 487. 

Arthur, Chester A., 480. 

B. 

Bible, The, 67, 143. 

Bi-metallism, 389. 

Birmingham, England, 359, 360. 

Bismarck, 335. 

Bonaparte, Napoleon, 335, 336. 

Books, 438. 

Boston, 45, 47, 77-80. 

British Constitution, 116. 

Burliugame Treaty, 362. 



Calvinism, View of, 146. 

Cass, Lewis, 199. 

Cassel, Prince of Hesse-, 64. 



C. 



602 



INDEX. 503 

Caucus, The, 495, 

Chaplain to Congress, 121. 

Character, 98, 439. 

Chase, S. P., 275, 446. 

Chinese Immigration, .362, 363. 

Christian Citizen, The, 493. 

Christianity, 87, 109, 110, 164, 165. 

Church-membership, 266. 

Church and State, 437. 

Civil Service, 109, 120, 142, 354, 359-361, 496. 

Civil Service System of Great Britain, 485-487. 

Cleveland, Grover, 490. 

College Studies, 410. 

Colored Citizens, 290, 349, 350, .368, 369, 374, 378, 465. 

Colored Soldiers, 260, 270, 290, 294, 298, 477. 

Commercial Reverses, 192. 

Communism, 133. 

Concentration of Power, 97, 117. 

Concord, Battle at, 16. 

Confederation, The, 170. 

Congress, 444. 

Congress, Organizing, in 18.39, 166. 

Congress, International, 319. 

Consolidated Government, 97, 127. 

Constitution, The U. S., 171-174, 177, 394. 

Convention, Constitutional, 24, 172. 

Credit, Expansion of, 221. 

Currency, The, 184, 192, 317, 355, 356, 388, 418-420, 431. 

r>. 

Davis, .Jefferson, 449. 

Debt. The National, 311, 423. 

Debts, PubHc, 385. 

Declaration of Independence, 102, 160-162, 170, 186, 189, 230- 

233, 240, 244, 400. 
Declaration of Independence, Signers of, 59, 186. 
Democratic Party, The, 343-345, 468. 
Depravity, Human, 143. 



504 IXDEX. 

DissoTntion of the Union, 211, 219. 

Divorce. J97. 

Dorrf^las. Stephen A., 226, 233, 236. 

Draft Bill, 392. 

Duche, I!ev. Mr., 52-54. 

Duties and Obligations of Office-holders, 491. 

TC. 

Education, Popular, 100, 107, 117, 141, 313, 314, 317, 352-354, 

372-,383, 376, 460, 472. 
Education, I'opular, National Aid to, 427. 
Elections, Purity of, 351, -363, 462. 
Elective Franchise, :i51, 3(53. 
Emancipation. 270. 
Emancipation Proclamation, 248, 250, 257-259, 265, 275-278, 

285, 294, 304, 446. 
Emerson, Ralph Waldo, 223, 278. 
England and America, 337. 
English Constitution, The, 188. 
Everett, Edward, 279. 
Extravagant Expenditure of Public Moneys, 489, 490, 493. 

Federalists, The, 148, 474. 

Fillmore, Millard, 212. 

Finance, 355. 

Foreign-born Citizens, 491-493. 

France, 62. 

Franklin, Benjamin, 97, 124. 

Free Trade, :ilS, 392, 421. 

French Republic, 311. 

Fourth of July, 61. 

Fugitive Slaves, 411. 

Future Life, The, 85. 

Gag-law, 168, 169. 

Garfield, James A., 388, 411, 413. 



INDEX. 505 

Garabetta, 335. 

Genius, 55, 66. 

(Georges, The, 148. 

German Element in America, 499. 

Gettysburg, Address at, 278, 279. 

Goethe, 454, 455. 

Government, 118, 119, 177, 178, 187. 

Grant, U. S., 280, 281, 292, 326, 332-334, 339, 345. 

Greek Language, The, 424. 

Greeley, Horace, 247. 

H. 

Habeas Corpus, 253-255. 

Hadrian, Lines of, 138. 

Hamilton, Alexander, 123. 

Hampton Institute, 383. 

Harrison, William Henry, 195. 

Hayes, Rutherford B., 347. 

Hayti, 163. 

Henry, Joseph, 455. 

Hereditary Succession, 149. 

Hesse-Cassel, Prince of, 64. 

History. 425. 

Hodges, Colonel, 262. 

Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 283. 

Horace, 424. 

Hughes, Thomas, 320. 

Hutchinson, Governor, 68, 69, 79, 80, 82. 

I. 

Ideas, 399, 476. 

Illinois, 127. 

Immigration, 107, 371-373, 375, 381; Chinese, 362, 363. 

Indians, The, 43, 196, 283, 379, 386, 480-485. 

J. 

Jackson, Andrew, 163, 176, 284, 309. 
Jackson, •' Stouewall," 324. 



506 INDEX. 

Jefferson, Thomas, 88, 124, 170, 190, 381. 
Johnson, Andrew, 234, 284, 308, 309. 
Johnson, Richard M., 197, 200, 384. 
Judiciary, The, 70, 72, 351. 

Labor, 319. 

Laboulaye, E., 271. 

Law, Reign of, 426. 

Legislative Department, 187. 

Leisure, 478. 

Lemmon Case, 480. 

Liberty, 46, 86, 171, 290, 406. 

Lincoln, Abraham, 223, 271-273, 278, 279, 322-324, 330, 366, 

367, 368, 391, 393, 413, 446-448, 466. 

Literature in America, 104-107. 

Locke, John, 174. 

"Lost Cause, The," 348. 

Louis XV., 149. 

Louisiana, 195. 

IM. 

Madison, James, 88, 111, 170, 382. 

Manchester, England, 251. 

Massachusetts, 12, 13. 

Massacre, Boston, 77. 

Mathews, Stanley, 347. 

McClellan, George B., 327-330. 

Metallic Basis, 184. 

Military Academy, 129. 

Militia, The, 129. 

"Minute-men" of 1775, 169. 

Miracles, 165. 

Mississippi, The, 195. 

Monroe, James, 100, 122, 127, 146, 147. 

"Monroe Doctrine," 130, 207, 214. 

Napoleon Bonaparte, 335, 336. 
Napoleon, Louis, 336. 



INDEX. 507 



National Authority, 364; and State Authority, 130. 

National Credit, 213, 311, 322, 362. 

National Debt, 311, 423. 

National Morality, 115, 213, 322, 324, 348. 

National Policy, 204. 

Natural Bridge, The, 91. 

Nature, Conformity to, 66. 

Negroes, 93. 

Neutrality, 207, 208, 214. 

New England, 440. 

New Jersey Delegation of 1839, 166. 

New States, Admission of, 127. 

North Carolina, 173. 

NulUfication, 122, 123, 125, 163, 178-184. 



Orator, The, 134. 
Oregon Territory, 206. 
Otis, James, 83, 84. 



O. 



P. 



Parties, Origin of, 399, 458. 

Partisanship, 497. 

Party Methods, 497. 

Party Spirit, 141. 

Pemberton, General, 295. 

People, The, 66, 394. 

Perry, Oliver Hazard, 199. 

Persecution, Religious, 112, 113. 

Petition, Right of, 152-161, 168. 

Pierce, Franklin, 217. 

Polk, James K., 205. 

Poncas, The, 387. 

Pope, Alexander, 137. 

Potomac, The, 90. 

Preservation of Forests, 488. 

President and Senate, 138. 

Presidential etiquette, 190; receptions, 268; title, 120. 



508 INDEX. 

Profanity, 22. 
Property, 262, 
Protective Duties, 407. 
Public Schools, 141. 
Punch, 224 n. 

R. 

Railway System, The, 431. 

Eandolph, John, 144. 

Raynal, Abbe, 104. 

Reason, a revelation, 68. 

Rebellion, The, 348. 

Rebel States, 296, 297. 

Reconstruction, 412. 

Relation of Labor to the State, 499. 

Religion, 44, 67, 266. 

Religious Freedom, 42, 89, 101, 113, 114, 121, 171. 

Republican Party, The, 342-345, 450, 470. 

Repudiation, 311, 385. 

Revenue, National, 444. ^ 

Revenue Bills, 364. 

Revolution, The American, 186. 

Rhetoric, 134. 

Ruffner, Dr., 379. 

S. 

Sabbath, The, 22, 249, 250. 

Schleicher, G., 463. 

School-keeping, 46. 

Schools, Public, 352-354; Sectarian, 352, 472; Theory of, 498. 

Science, 451 ; Relation of Government to, 459. 

Secession, 122, 125, 163, 179-182, 242, 243. 

Secretary of War, 448. 

Sectarian Schools, 472. 

Self-government, 55, 109. 

Senate, Functions of the, 120. 

Separation from England, 54. 

Seward, William H., 413, 446. 



INDEX. 509 

Shakespeare, 282. 

Sheridan, Gen., 325, 339. 

Sherman, Gen., 331. 

Sin, Original, .59. 

Slavery, 25, 26, 85, 93-97, 104, 126, 128, 1.32, 151-1.54, 160-162, 
164, 184, 226, 231-236, 247, 263, 264, 267, 268, 270-275, 
286, 287, 339, 340, 374, 375, 378, 394, 395-397, 401-405, 
411. 

Slave-trade, 126, 128. 

Smithsonian Institute, 457. 

"Solid South," The, 345. 

South Carolina, 125, 163, 174, 178-183. 

Special Privileges, 206. 

Specie Payments, Eesumption of, 453, 467. 

Spectator, The London, 271. 

"Spoils of Office," 125, 359. 

"Squatter Sovereignty," 228. 

Stanton, Secretary, 8.30, 446. 

State Eights, 27, 243-246, 364, 370. 

Statistics, 426. 

Stuart, A. H. H., 376. 

Student, The, 408-411, 424. 

Suffrage, Negro, 465; Unrestricted, 350. 

" Surrender, Unconditional," 293. 



T. 

Tariff, The, 184. .338, 407. 

Taylor. Zachary, 210. 

Teutonic Races, 463. 

Texas, 244, 245, 341, 465. 

Thames, Battle of the, 197-200. 

Thomas, Gen., 4.58. 

Township, The New England, 400, 458. 

Trade with KeDels, 296, 297. 

Treason. 284, 288, 289. 

Trinity, The, 146. 

Tyler, John, 202. 



510 INDEX. 

TJ. 
Union, Saving the, 247, 257-259, 339. 
Union Soldiers, 321, 357-358, 371. 
Utah, 312. 



Van Buren, Martin, 186. 
Vicksburg, 280, 294-296. 
Volunteer Soldiers, 346. 



V. 



^W. 



Walpole, Memoirs of, 140. 

War, 332, 335, 338. 

War, Civil, Philosophy of the, 399, 400. 

Washington, George, 11, 97, 119, 214. 

Webster, Daniel, 383. 

Wheatley, Phillis, 21. 

Wilderness, The, 302. 

Woman, Political Influence of, 156-160. 

Writs of Assistance, 81, 82. 

Y. 

Young Man, Advice to a, 225. 
Young Men, 475. 



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